Velvet, Leather, and Motors
by Camillia Vincent
Summary: An abused, slightly mentally unwell girl. The dominating, top dog of the street racing scene in LA. Many trials and tribulation. Even Death. R & R.
1. Cold, Harsh December

Cold, Harsh December  
  
Late December  
  
In a little, beat up house, somewhere outside of the city of Los Angeles, lived a woman of great spirit and distinction, and a man of great wealth but little humanity.  
  
"Bitch!, Come over here now!" The man was broad in all directions, with hair as black as ebony and eyes that were devil blue. Dressed as he typically was around his home in a ratty t-shirt, and faded jeans, he was able to move around much easier than the woman he tormented.  
  
"Aidan, stop it! Now!" The young woman dropped to the floor as her pleas were ignored and a chair from the dining room was thrown towards her. It crashed into the wall behind her. "Please, just calm down!" The woman, whose long limbs were now curled beneath her, was dressed rather uncasually, in a short dress made of black cotten, and boots with thin heels. This just made her and easier target for the man Aidan.  
  
"I am calm! Get over here now, woman!" The six-foot man growled back as he threw the nearly empty bottle of scotch at the female. The bottle, like the chair had earlier, shattered against the falling flowered wallpaper. "Now look what you've made me do, Baby, I wasn't finished with that. Get over here now, and apologize."  
  
"No," the girl replied quickly, "you know, I think I'd rather leave now." She knew perfectly well that this man was a far cry from sober and calm, and that his anger would only get worse. The more his anger rose, the more violent he got, and she did not want to be around while that happened. She grabbed her worn, leather bag --it held a change of clothes, and the money she currently had in her name-- and scrambled toward the door, only to be jerked back painfully by her hair, and slammed against that oak door frame.  
  
"You will stay here you trollop!" One of Aidan's large hands gripped tight around the woman's throat, holding her firmly against the door --she could hardly breath, "You have always been just like your mother." The hand that held her by the throat squeezed threateningly tighter, while the other stroked gently through those long ebony tresses.  
  
"Why thank you, Aidan," The young woman regretted her sarcasm the moment Aidan's free hand connected harshly with her jaw. A cry escaped her and the man smiled at the reaction he'd gotten and hit her again.  
  
"Quiet, bitch! You will speak when I tell you. I am the master of this house, you will obey me," before his victim had a chance to react, calloused hands roughly grabbed her breasts and tossed her to the floor, and pinning her down with his own heavy body.  
  
Aidan's weight was suffocating, and the potent smell of vodka and scotch was nauseating. She prayed as his weight smothered her, and his fingers bruised her flesh, that she would pass out. She did not wish to be conscious when the situation escalated.  
  
She would not be shown mercy this night, she would be conscious through all of it. Aidan tore her dress upwards was from her waist and ripped those black lace panties from her lower side. The woman struggled as he fumbled with his own zipper but she couldn't move and inch and soon, Aidan had forced himself into her small body. He pumped viciously, grabbing cruelly at her tender flesh bruising her lips with inscincere kisses. Kisses only given in order to silence the screams. 


	2. A Brother's Protection

Chapter One  
  
Romeo, a five-eleven, Italian from the Bronx, was jerked from a mostly peaceful sleep by a banging on the fire escape window. "What the hell?" He turned on the lamp beside his bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants before focusing his dark blue eyes on the clock. "God, it's four thirty... who could possibly want my attention now. Grumbling curses he shuffled over to the fire escape, unlocked the window, and pulled the glassed frame open. Then somehow, his reflexes were good enough that he caught his young friend when she fell into the room.  
  
"Hey, Ro."  
  
She sounded weak. Her voice was quiet, as if she had been crying all night. That, Romeo knew, was not the case, because this female never shed a tear. "Jesus, Tia, it's storming outside." He moved Tianna into a chair after shutting the window, and the wrapped a heavy blanket around her trembling body. "Now tell me, what were you thinking? Running around in the pouring rain, so damned early in the morning."  
  
Tia avoided the question, pulled the blanket tighter around her, and then looked up towards Romeo, with a child-like innocence that came over her when something was wrong, "May I have some coco? Please?"  
  
Ro sighed quietly, nodded and moved into the kitchen to fix the hot chocolate. He always made it just the way she liked it: with a large marshmallow, whipped cream, and cinnamon. Upon his return he sat on the ottoman in front of Tia, it was then that he really studied the pathetic looking creature before him. Her long onyx hair was dripping wet, from the rain she'd been out in, and it clung to her face. Her slim, artist's hands were shaking as they brought the steaming liquid to her lips. Romeo's sapphire eyes then traveled to a thin trail of blood running slowly from the corner of his mouth, and then to the dark bruise that was forming there. He wiped the red liquid away with his thumb, and pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear, then after a deep silence he spoke in a low, serious tone, "He hit you again."  
  
Tianna's crystal eyes looked at Ro over the rim of her mug and she silently nodded. There was no need for her to explain, Ro had found out about, Tia's abusive stepfather, Aidan, long ago when he had asked about why she had worked such extreme hours.  
  
"What else did he do, Tia?" When she didn't answer, he persisted, "What else did he do? Tia, did he rape you?"  
  
There was a long, thick moment of silence before she answered with a quiet, "Yes," and then finished her coco.  
  
Ro's voice was slightly harsh, and the man himself was frustrated, "Why don't you just move out? It would all stop then! Why do you insist on staying with this psychopath?"  
  
"I've got no where to go, Ro! Even if I bought an apartment, it would just make it easier for him to hunt me down... and he would. It would not stop if I left. It would just piss him off worse, and he would beat me to death for running away. If it were at all possible to leave, Ro, I would've done it two years ago..." her voice trailed off, she still hadn't found the courage to tell him what had happened before the aforementioned years. They weren't memories she liked to bring up, and she was scared of the reaction she might get.  
  
Compassion, and sadness, rushed over Romeo and he pulled Tia into his arms and cradled her. "Oh, Tia... you have got a place to stay. You, little sister of mine, can stay here. You've always been able to stay here. Here, he wont be able to find you." He placed a kiss on the top of her head, and continued, "I promise, that bastard will not get a hold of you again."  
  
Ro gave Tia a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt that was much too big for her, and then he sent her into the bathroom to shower. While she was in the shower he put the clothes she had been wearing, and the ones she was carrying in her leather bag, into the dryer. After Tia had gotten out of the shower, and she and Ro had gotten a few things straightened out, they slept. Ro surrendered his bed to Tia, while he took the couch. Romeo never really slept though he stayed awake, like he usually did, and listened to her sleeping. Though it wasn't the first time Tia had stayed over, it always amazed him how she never slept for more than an hour at a time, and how it could take five minutes to a few hours before she fell asleep again.  
  
He always wondered how long she'd put up with the abuse, and why he hadn't tried to do anything sooner. 


	3. Let's talk about cars

"Let's talk about...cars."  
  
"I need my clothes, Ro, I have to go back. I have to get my stuff." Tia was attempting to tame wild, raven waves, all the while arguing with Romeo about returning to her stepfather's home.  
  
"Tia you can't go back..."  
  
"He wont even realize that I've been there. It will take me all of five minutes to break into my room, and get my stuff."  
  
Just as Tia had stepped out onto the fire escape, Ro called after her, his arms crossed over his chest, voice booming, "Tianna Isis Ammon, you are not going. Now get back in this apartment and sit down."  
  
Tia huffed angrily and moved back into the room to sit upon the same chair as she had last night. "Damn you Romeo whatever-your-middle-name-is Donovan, and your--"  
  
"--And my full name threats. Yeah, yeah, I know." He laughed as Tia tossed her legs over the arm of the big, blue chair, crossed her arms of her chest, and pouted like a child, "Don't pout, darlin', it doesn't suit you."  
  
She glared, "And just what solution do you pose to my problem. I am quite lacking in clothes."  
  
"Well, it is simple really," Ro acted as if he had some long complicated answer to the question, but he only said one more word, "shopping." He looked thoroughly surprised when he's surrogate sister's bell-like laughter erupted from her.  
  
"Shopping?" She questioned, "but you hate shopping. I mean, you really loathe shopping. Besides do you plan on paying for all the shopping as well? I'm certainly not going to spend money to buy myself a new wardrobe."  
  
Romeo shrugged, "I'll pay, that's not a problem, and I figure I can suffer through a couple hours of shopping. Especially, if it keeps you from going back to your stepfather's house."  
  
"Fine... it's your decision."  
  
"Yes. Yes, it is."  
  
The two returned from shopping around five thirty, six o'clock that evening. Romeo had bought Tia a great deal of clothing and had, almost unwillingly, given up most of his closet and dresser space to make room for her new things. Tia was happy though, and that was what truly mattered to him. So it didn't bother him that he lost some personal space.  
  
Tianna, in order to help apologize for the nine or so hours of shopping hell she'd put Ro through, made dinner. She decided on her own Italian creation. Spaghetti, Lasagna, and Chicken Cacciatore, all expertly combined into a dish. It didn't have a name yet, but somehow it sold exceptionally well in Romeo's restaurant.  
  
Over dinner they talked of many things, but Tia's main focus was cars --racing to be exact. "Romeo, I want to race--"  
  
"No."  
  
"But--"  
  
"No. You don't have the experience, and it's too dangerous."  
  
"You've seen me drive; you know I don't need the extra experience."  
  
"Tia that's not the point. It's a ma--"  
  
"Stop!" Tia held her hand up the waved her fork in an intimidating fashion at Ro, "Don't you even start that chauvinistic 'it's a man's world' shit with me, Donovan. I want to race the NIRA circuit."  
  
Ro was so shocked for a moment he didn't say anything. She didn't just say... "With Dominic?" He did sound quite surprised, "You want to race with Dominic Toretto?"  
  
"With him, or against him." Tia shrugged it off as if it were nothing and finished off her dinner.  
  
"Tia there's no way you can beat Dominic."  
  
She grinned impishly, "Would you bet money on that?"  
  
"Yes, actually, I would." 


	4. Fixing the Beast, Meeting Dominic

Fixing the Beast, Meeting Dom  
  
Early June  
  
Romeo strolled into the car garage behind The Racer's Edge, Harry's auto shop, to find Tianna underneath of the car they had bought for little cash. The beat up Honda Civic had only cost them a couple thousand dollars, but chances were they could spend well over fifteen grand fixing it up. Only, today, that wasn't exactly the case.  
  
With the toe of his boot he grabbed the edge of the creeper that Tia was laying on and pulled her out from under the vehicle. The wheels on that board squeaked obnoxiously as he did. "Guess what Harry's doing for us. well for you," He knelt down and attempted to wipe a grease spot from Tia's smooth flesh, but succeeded only in smudging that spot, into a streak.  
  
Tia pushed his hand away, and leaned back on her elbows to keep from rolling as she continued to lounge on that board. "No, what is Harry doing?"  
  
"You have to guess," Ro smudged another spot just to annoy her, and chuckled when she slapped his hand away.  
  
"Quit!" She pushed her fingers through hair that was recently dyed pink, but was now spotted black with oil and grime from the car, and then pulled it back into a ponytail, "I'm not guessing by the way. I despise guessing games."  
  
"Fine then, don't guess. Harry thinks it's absolutely hilarious that you are so determined to race Dominic."  
  
"This helps me, how?"  
  
"Did I say I was finished?" Ro nudged Tia just hard enough to make her fall off of the creeper, and continued, "He also said it was the sort of thing he would pay to see-"  
  
"How does this affect me, Ro? Would you get to the point already?"  
  
"Well now, someone hasn't had her daily pot of coffee."  
  
"Oh, shut up and finish. I have a lot of work to do."  
  
"He said he couldn't give us anything for free," he held up his hand to halt Tia's next comment before it was spoken. "However, he did say that for six thousand dollars, he would give us whatever we needed to fix up the beast," he waved a hand at the rough looking Civic.  
  
"Well, that is good news. Especially considering I've already ordered everything I need." Tia then cast a glance back to her vehicle; "She is not a beast. She is a beautiful machine." Tia imagined all cars were female, and always said anything that pretty had to be a woman.  
  
Ro laughed, "Whatever you say, Sugar. We'll just agree that she's a beast now, and after a few grand worth of mechanical surgery, and then she'll be beautiful. Besides it doesn't matter what she looks like, with the engine going under her hood, she could decimate all that oppose her."  
  
"Even Toretto?"  
  
"Nope, still betting against you on that one."  
  
"Oh, ye of little faith," Tia said as she slid back under the car.  
  
"I have plenty of faith, Tia, but not enough to believe you'll win against Dominic."  
  
After a few more hours out gutting the Civic, Tia finally decided to call it quits for the day. Her face was smudged with grimes and her hair turned black. She'd done her best to brush the dirt and oil from her tresses, and for the most part, she succeeded. The soft, silkiness of those long tresses had been regain, but the strands had been stained black.  
  
Once Tianna had finished straightening up the garage, she walked into the auto shop to talk with Harry for a while. She found another man talking with him instead. Tia wiped her hands clean on her faded blue jeans, and moved behind the counter where Harry was and because he and the man were still negotiating something, Tia hopped up onto that counter and sat. She pulled the edge of her white t-shirt up, not caring if she showed the world her black, flame bra, and wiped the black from her face. Tia certainly did not care if she'd flashed that bra, but she sighed softly as she had thought about the consequences of her action -the white t-shirt, was now wonderfully dirtied by black grime. Tia shrugged; she could always wash it. Her blue eyes looked up when Harry cleared his throat.  
  
"Sugar, I'd like for you to meet a good friend, and devoted patron of mine," He motioned to the man across the counter.  
  
A long leg swung over the counter, so that Tia now straddled the display case, but also facing both men. Crystal hues regarded the rather large man she was being introduced to. He was extremely attractive, she thought, broad chest, biceps larger than her thighs. quite dominating. Yes dominating was the word that came to mind, as crystal hues scanned over his clean shaven head and dark brown eyes. Dominating was the word that suited this man perfectly.  
  
"Sugar, I'd like you to meet Dominic Toretto. Dom, meet Sugar, Ro's babe--" at a warning glance from Tia, he quickly corrected himself, "little sister."  
  
"Not by blood, but the way I see it, family is more than just blood." Tia, who was apparently now known as Sugar, took as firm a hold as possible on the hand Dominic extended to her --his practically engulfed her own. "Pleasure to meet you Dominic."  
  
"The pleasure's mine, Sugar."  
  
Tianna smirked, but before she could comment another voice piped in, "Hey Sugar, see you've met Toretto already," Ro slapped Dom on the shoulder in greeting, "Hey man. How's it going?" He did the same to Harry, "Afternoon, Harry. How's business?" Romeo's questions weren't really meant to be answered so no answers came in reply.  
  
When Ro rested his arm around Tia's shoulders she realized she hadn't let go of Dominic's hand. She released it quickly, and did her best to hide her embarrassment. No one seemed to notice.  
  
Dom smirked slightly, but didn't really acknowledge the fact that he had noticed. He just greeted Romeo. "How've you been, Ro?"  
  
" 'Been good. My back's been hurting an awful lot though."  
  
Harry laughed, "That's because Sugar has been making you sleep on the couch."  
  
Tianna seemed quite offended by that comment. "I have not, been making him do anything. Mr. Chivalrous here," she shoved Ro, "insisted that I take the bed. I said no, that I didn't need the bed, but no... he just kept right on. Persistent little bug."  
  
"Little bug?" Ro asked.  
  
"Uh oh. He we go..." Harry said shaking his head.  
  
"Yes! Little bug!" Tia stuck her tongue out at Ro childishly.  
  
"What's going on?" Dom asked curiously.  
  
"You'll see."  
  
"Could a little bug do this?" before Tia could escape she was snatched off the counter, and turned up side down. "So you just going to make this all my fault?"  
  
Tianna was caught between a girlish laugh and a squeal, and put her hands on the floor just in case he dropped her. "Absolutely! This is all your fault! You creepy-little-bug!" The last three words were broken up as Ro shook Tia. This sibling bickering continued for a few minutes.  
  
"Well they certainly do fight like family," Do said absently to Harry.  
  
"Yes. Yes they do," he replied with a laugh.  
  
Everyone's attention, even Tia's (who was still upside down), turned to the door when a UPS man with a truckload of boxes stepped into the auto shop. The young man's brow arched as he studied the group. Then he cleared his throat and spoke up, "Harry Michael's?"  
  
"That'd be me." Harry spoke.  
  
"Sir, I need you to sign for these."  
  
As Harry moved to sign for the packages, he absently said to Tia, "It seems all your goodies have arrived, Sugar."  
  
"Oh? Already? We just ordered the stuff yesterday," a thin brow rose high in question.  
  
Dom broke in, "Harry's a fast worker."  
  
"Oh..." there was a short pause, and then, "Yay! My toys. Put me down!" Tia punched Ro in the foot, and he dropped her. She tumbled down, but landed on her feet. Then she ran over to start hauling the boxes back to the garage.  
  
After the UPS man unloaded the rest of the boxes, and Harry moved chuckling back to join his friends. Romeo was laughing as well when he asked, "Harry, do you mind if she stays here tonight?"  
  
"Sure, that's not a problem."  
  
This time it was Dom who wore the questioning expression, "Why would she need to stay here?"  
  
Ro found this to be a slightly amusing question, but instead of answering he called to Tia, "Hey Sugar."  
  
Tianna slid to a stop and quickly turned to face her brother, "Yes?"  
  
"Are you going to be home to make me dinner?"  
  
"Make your own damn dinner. I have work to do. I need to finish my car," and with that she vanished into the garage.  
  
Ro laughed and turned back to Dom, "See? There's your answer."  
  
Dom now looked more intrigued than confused, "Her car?"  
  
"She's using the garage to build her car," Harry answered.  
  
"She's building it? Isn't that kind of," Dom searched for the words, "a man's job?"  
  
Rom laughed, "For your safety, I wouldn't ever tell Tia that."  
  
Harry grinned, "She about as car smart as you or Jesse."  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Yep, chances are she's serious about finishing her car."  
  
"Ro's right. She may put off the paint job for tomorrow, but all things mechanical will be taken care of tonight."  
  
After the three men finished chatting, Dominic left. All the while he was driving home, he had "Sugar" on his mind. Dark haired, blue eye, and full of spunk and interest in cars. Yes, he could tell he would very much like this girl. He was going to have to get to know her. First he would have to figure out how Ro would react to that idea. 


	5. Ready to Race

Ready to Race  
  
Harry had been searching every where, all morning and all afternoon, and he could not find Tia anywhere. He called around cautiously not calling Romeo because his older brother tendencies would kick in and the Italian man would freak. Finally though it occurred to Harry that Tianna had never come out of the car garage and that, that was the one place he'd yet to look.  
  
When he entered the garage his jaw dropped as he realized the comment he'd made the other night had been thoroughly ground into the dirt; Tia had completely finished her car. Paint job included. She chosen to paint the Civic a glossy onyx black, with cranberry ghost flames along the hood and roof. Sleeping in a position usually only capable of being knotted into by six-year-olds, was where he found Tia. He wondered how she'd managed it, the position looked nowhere near comfortable and the gear shift was jabbing her in the middle of her spine, yet she managed to be sleeping. He could only shake his head, and open the door to try and wake Tianna from her slumber.  
  
Harry patted the girl lightly on the cheeks, and laughed when she mumbled incoherently and swatted his hand away. "C'mon Sugar, it's after seven."  
  
"Go...away..." was Tia's slurred reply.  
  
"If you want to race Dominic you are going to have to wake up."  
  
More grumbles followed and Tia sleepily pushed her self into the drivers side seat. Harry grinned victoriously, and shut the passenger's side door and moved around to open the door on Tianna's side. He helped her out of the vehicle and kept her steady while the circulation returned to her legs.  
  
"Why'd you have to go and bring that up?"  
  
"Because I knew it would work."  
  
"No you didn't. I could've stayed asleep, and still won the race." She meant to add won the race later, but her brain still wasn't quite awake.  
  
"Okay fine I didn't. It's mostly just because you really, really need to take a shower."  
  
Crystal blue eyes turned to Harry and glared evilly, "Bastard."  
  
"Yeah, but at least I was going to tell you your car looks great."  
  
"But I knew that already." Tia laughed, and wrapped her arms around Harry's waist.  
  
"I know you do. Let's head inside, I'll make you a couple pots of coffee."  
  
Harry did make those two pots of coffee, though he only drank two of the sixteen cups. Tia had drunk the rest, and was currently buzzing around. She taken a shower, and act that normally only took her about ten minutes but had this time taken over and hour because she was determined to wash all the dirt and grime out of her long pink tresses. Then brushing it had taken and unusual amount of time but only because she was braiding hundreds of small sections into the candy colored waves, with braids that only reached to her jaw. She had just finished her hair when Romeo knocked on the door.  
  
"I brought your clothes Tia. Oh, and I got the plates you wanted."  
  
The door was opened and Tianna took the leather bag that held her clothes, and asked, "Did you already put them on the car?"  
  
"Yes ma'am I did."  
  
"Thanks Hon." With her thanks said she disappeared into the bathroom to change. Ro had brought just what she'd asked for: a fitted pair of black suede pants and a little black tank top. When she waltzed into the main room of the auto shop she leaned over the counter to kiss Harry sweetly on the cheek, "Wish me lots of luck and money?"  
  
"Money and luck, huh?" Harry laughed softly, "Yeah I wish it to you. You're going to need lots of both when you go up against Dominic."  
  
Tia pouted, "You're betting against me too aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah, Sorry. Ro and I just don't think you can do it. Not against Dominic."  
  
When Ro called into the shop for them to go, Tia huffed angrily and stalked out the door. She was going to prove them wrong. Very wrong. 


	6. Calling the Shots

Calling the Shots  
  
Romeo and Tianna pulled into the dead-end alley and parked where there was room. Dozens of other races had gather there for the impending act of illegal activities. Toretto and his team had arrived only moments before them Ro noticed as he saw Dominic exiting his car. That was a matter to deal with after checking on Tia. Ro climbed out of his car and moved over to Tia's, she'd had all of the windows down, and he laughed at her giddy expression and wind-blown hair. "Do you like it, Sugar?"  
  
Tia's grin was ear to ear as she stepped out of the car to join her brother, "I love it. I love it!" She leaned up to kiss her friend quickly, "Thanks bunches, big brother."  
  
"You're welcome, but you, Miss Sugar, did all the work."  
  
"So? Maybe I did, but your money paid for it all."  
  
Romeo moved to the front of the car and wiped some dirt off the license plate, and smiled at what it read -Sugar.  
  
"I absolutely adore this car. If it were a guy I would make mad, furious love to it."  
  
"That just may have been a little bit too much information." Romeo laughed and opened the door to allow Tianna's exit of the car, once she'd stepped out he'd wrapped his arms loosely around her shoulders, "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"  
  
"Damnit Romeo, if you don't start having a little faith in me, I'm just going to have to punch you in the nads."  
  
Ro visibly flinched, and instinctively covered his manhood, but offered a little smile and nod, "I think I'll go talk to Dominic now." A kiss was placed on Tia's forehead as he walked away.  
  
"You do that sweetie." Tia laughed, "Have fun..."  
  
Romeo laughed and took a deep breath, then he headed towards Dom and the team. "Hey Toretto!"  
  
"Romeo," the gravelly voice called out, "You decided to lose your money tonight after all. I was hoping I'd get the chance to win it." Dominic joked as he greeted his friend with open arms.  
  
Ro shook his head, "No not tonight, I have a car that needs to be raced."  
  
"And you aren't driving it?"  
  
"No, man, it's not my car," Ro laughed, "I just paid for it. No I came to talk to you about the NIRA circuit."  
  
"Why? You know you're already in."  
  
"Well, yeah, I know that. A friend of mine wants some kind of bad to race with you."  
  
"With me?"  
  
"With you or against you, I believe were the exact words."  
  
"What kind of car is your friend driving?"  
  
"It's a Civic. Fully customized of course, but I don't know what's under the hood. I just paid for it."  
  
"This friend is racing a Honda that's technically yours," Ro nodded and Dominic continued, "Why aren't you racing it?"  
  
"It's her car. Not mine. She built it, put all the work into it. Etcetera, etcetera. I have no room to race a car I wasn't involved in."  
  
Dominic however had become slightly one-tracked mentally, and missed all the information on the car, "Her?" But Dominic was silent for a minute or so, before he spoke, "I'm not making any promises my Italian friend, but because this girl is a friend of yours, and I'm finding myself to be particularly generous, as well as curious, we'll take a look at it."  
  
"That's all I'm asking." Ro and Dom talked the next few minutes. They discussed the plans for the race and the party afterwards, and just about regular, friendly things.  
  
As they watched Dominic and Romeo talking, Vince and Leon were chatting by their supped up vehicles and watching all the women around. When the Civic pulled up and, of all expected, a woman stepped out, the two men's conversation focused on her. They had been chatting with Brian, who was something of a dirty cop after an incident or two joining them all in the bonds of friendship a year or so ago. Brian had his arms wrapped around Mia, whom he was still dating, and laughing at the comments the two friends were making about the woman standing near the Civic. You couldn't have really missed this one though, with black pants that acted like a second skin, and a black tank top that had Bite Me screened in pink glitter letters across the front, and knee-high, pink laced combat boots. Add on that luminescent flamingo colored hair, and the ride she stood next to.  
  
"Wow, she's beautiful..." Leon said his voice rough in a way that was similar to Dominic's.  
  
"I like the car..." Vince's head canted to the side as Tia leaned through the window of the passenger side to get some things out of her glove box, "and the ass."  
  
"Not bad, not bad at all."  
  
"Lets go check this babe out."  
  
Romeo had caught Vince's comment and turned quickly to him, "I wouldn't do that...If I were you," but his warning fell upon deaf ears, as Vince was already headed toward Tianna. Ro couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"Alright, Ro, what am I missing?"  
  
"Tell me something Toretto, what happens when you mess with a snake?" Ro was still laughing and had kept his gaze on Vince and Leon.  
  
"You get bit, that simple. Why?"  
  
"V is about to fuck with my friend, and she, well she's a walking snake pit." Instead of going to check out the aforementioned Civic, Dom and Ro stayed back to watch Vince. They had a feeling this would be an interesting show.  
  
Tia had her back turned to the two men approaching her, and was wiping off the hood of her beautiful machine. She didn't turn to face them and didn't speak. She waited for them to start the conversation.  
  
"Just what do you think you're doing with that hot ride, darlin'?" Leon asked.  
  
Tia straightened slowly, and turned to face the men. She looked them both over once, before she spoke, "Me? I plan on racing." When the men both laughed heartily at her comment she wasn't intimidated, she merely ignored them and leaned in through the open window to grab her purse. This time her leather bag held money, other purse type things, and just in case she needed it, her pink slip. After grabbing the bag she made her way toward Dominic and Romeo, the two men had met her halfway, but before Tianna could speak Vince called after her.  
  
"Hey Baby!"  
  
"Uh-oh..." was the comment that came quietly from Ro.  
  
"You can't race, baby. This is a man's world. C'mon baby, why don't you just sit along the side and watch the men play?"  
  
Tia's eyes narrowed into slits, and her fists clenched. She shoved her bag into Ro's arms and before he could stop her she turned on her heel and moved back to Vince. Her hips swayed, her walk was purposeful, and her face carried a look of false seductiveness. She ran a finger slowly down Vince's chest, "What did you call me? Oh I'm sorry, honey, did you say that I could race?"  
  
"Yeah, you can race baby."  
  
"Baby..." The word rolled slowly of Tia's tongue and what happened next was only expected by Romeo. Tianna punched Vince. Her fist connected hard with his jaw and her rings left marks like scratches across the left side of his face. The rings had also slid back to cut her knuckles but she didn't acknowledge the sting. She was used to much harsher pain. Laughter erupted through the crowds of people, and among Vince's friends, as Tia moved back over to Ro. She removed her rings and tossed them into the bag, as she spoke with a slight smirk, "I really should remember not to hit anyone while wearing rings."  
  
"Nice going, little sister, you always make the most wonderful first impressions." He handed Tia her bag, then absently wondered if Dominic had caught the little sister comment. Harry and Ro had worked fairly hard to keep Dominic from knowing that it was Tia who wanted so badly to race him.  
  
Tia pulled a stack of cash from her purse and the pink slip, and turned to Dominic. "This is two hundred dollars," she shoved the money into his hand, and followed it with her pink slip, "and that's the pink slip to my car..."  
  
"Are you sure you want --"  
  
"Shut up, Romeo." Tia commanded, before looking back at Dom, "I am going to do whatever it takes to race you. So are you going to do this the easy way, or am I going to have to kick your a--" Tia's comment was cut short when Ro's hand covered her mouth."  
  
"That your car?"  
  
"Of course it's my car." Tia lead Dom and the others over to the Honda.  
  
"Open it up, Jess"  
  
Jess moved to lift up the hood and when it came up about and inch, Tia's hands had slammed it back down. "If you needed to know what's under the hood, I'd show you. However, as it stands, you don't need to know. Either you let me race or you don't. I suggest the first unless you want to get a beat--" again Ro's hand cut off her comment, when he moved his hand away she finished, "Now, am I in?" 


	7. Win, Run, Fall

Win, Run, Fall  
  
Tia was in. Outside she appeared to be a racer with the strong will and determination to win. Inside she was dancing and prancing about like a child. She was finally going to race her first race. It was her first race in her car, her first real gambling race, her first race against Toretto. Tia was so excited she thought she would burst. Her left hand gripped the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles had gone pale, and her right gripped the gear shift until she felt the cuts on her knuckles tear just a little further open.  
  
At that stinging pain she looked down and finally acknowledged the wounds. Tia licked the open cuts and focused on the task at hand. She had to win. She'd bet her car, her pride and joy, on a race nobody thought she could win. She had to win, but she was going up against the biggest, most bad ass, racer in this illegal world. She was racing against Dominic Toretto. Toretto, the dominating man who filled her mind with visions of... "What the hell am I thinking? I don't have time to deal with this." Tia cutting off her thoughts turned the volume up on her stereo, the loud music deafening her mind to all unnecessary thoughts. Now all she needed to do was wait for that hallowed word.  
  
"GO!" The word roared above the excited voices of the onlookers and of the music playing everywhere, and the racers were off. Tia was in the lead ahead of Dominic by a full car length, but that wasn't good enough, she had to stay in the lead. "Double clutch, shift, double clutch, shift," Tia spoke the words as much to the car as she did to herself.  
  
The Civic was a length and a half now in front of Toretto's Mazda RX- 7, but not for long. He was quickly gaining on her, and soon, instead of being in second place he'd gained first by half a car length. Tia couldn't have this and pressed her foot a little further down on the gas, when her car reach one hundred and twenty miles and she was just a foot in front of Toretto she pressed a little red button on her steering column, and sent a spray of NOS into her system.  
  
The sudden rush of speed pressed Tia back against her seat, and the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She topped out at one hundred and fifty-five miles when she crossed the finish line, a car length ahead of Dominic. Despite that he'd hit his NOS just after her, Tia still won.  
  
The two arrived back at the starting line at the same time, and even excited their cars simultaneously, but Tia was handed the money. She was the victor. Her wild, pink hair was blown back from the rush of air while she was racing, but was now falling sexily around her face. She took the money and walking over to Romeo stuffed it down into the purse he'd held for her. "You owe me some money, honey." Tia said to her surrogate brother, and grinned as he handed her two hundred dollars. "Now see, if you hadn't bet against me, you'd still have two hundred dollars."  
  
Next Tianna approached a very unhappy looking Dom. She really didn't know what she was doing but still she was walking towards the man. She'd reached into her bag counted out about half a grand of her winnings and held it out to Dominic. "Here."  
  
A brow arched curiously, and Dom studied the slender woman in front of him, "What's this?"  
  
"Hmm, well, gee, you know, I think it's money." Tianna said sarcastically her slim hands still holding the money out for Dominic.  
  
"What did I do to deserve it?" He said taking the money and stuffing it into his back pocket.  
  
"You almost won. You should get something for almost winning against me." Tia grinned softly as she licked her still bleeding knuckles. She shrugged softly the turned to walk away.  
  
Dom caught her by the arm and spun her back around until she was pressed against him, "You won, and it's not whether-"  
  
"It's not whether you win by and inch, or a mile, blah, blah, blah, and all that good stuff. Yes I know. I've heard already. Just take the money and stop questioning it."  
  
Dom took the bleeding hand lightly and wiped the excess blood from it with his T-shirt, then smile warmly down at Tia, "You did good, Sugar, real good." Yes he'd figured out that this was the same woman he'd been introduced to at Harry's.  
  
"Of course I did," Tia replied her voice a low, husky rumble, "I beat you." She grinned quickly and found her eyes darting toward Dominic's mouth, she wanted him to kiss her. She didn't know why, she'd never had thoughts like this, but there they were, nose to nose and just about to kiss, when one word ripped them apart and sent everyone scampering for their cars.  
  
Cops.  
  
Tia barely heard Romeo's yell for her to get into the car and drive, but as soon as she realized what had been commanded of her she obeyed. She ran over to her Honda, jumped in, and sped away as fast as she could. As she glanced back in her rear view mirror she saw Dom speeding away, off in the opposite direction of her, right past two police cars. They were not following Dominic's car. "Shit..." Tia muttered under her breath and her foot pressed harder onto the accelerator sending her car roaring down the nearest street. Still though, the cops pursued. "Fuckers! Go Away!" she screamed at the images in her mirror. She need a quick get away. Frantically her eyes scanned for any exits, any way to elude the cops. She found an alley and with a silent prayer to please fit, she turned sharply down the passage.  
  
She'd just barely squeezed by the dumpsters without scratching the paint on her Honda. Tia wasted no time looking back only forward so she could make it to the end of the alley in one piece. Ahead the alley sharply turned and she just narrowly avoided a head on collision with a wall at the sacrifice of the right side of her rear bumper. Another turn like the first sacrificed her back left side. Tia's teeth were grinding together before she realized that the paint job wasn't her main concern-- it was the alley coming to a dead end right in front of her. Her feet slammed into the brakes and her hands spun the wheel as far as it would go. At the sound of crunching metal, and the sight of the rapidly nearing wall, Tia threw herself across the seats of her car and covered her head.  
  
However, there was no shattering glass, no deadly collision, and Tia slowly sat up, opening one eye at a time as if she couldn't believe she was still alive. She was still alive, and her jaw dropped in amassment at the sight before her. She was facing back the way she'd come. She didn't stay to revel in her small victory, just grabbed her purse and shoved her car keys and made sure all her winnings were in the bag. Reaching in the back seat she grabbed her coat slipped it on, and then slipped the straps of her purse over her shoulder. Convinced she was ready, she climbed out of the car and ran back towards the entrance of the alley.  
  
There she found, much to her dismay, two patrol cars. Albeit, two very stuck patrol cars, but there were still the cops to worry about. Lucky for Tia the cops in the first car were two large to squeeze out of the windows but in the back one cop was working his way free. Tia had nowhere to go, no way to escape-- she was trapped.  
  
Dominic, Ro, and many of the others who had come to the race that night, had easily, and quickly lost the trailing cops. Those who were welcome had shown up at Dom's for the typical after race party. Romeo was the last to show up and as soon as he pulled into the drive he knew something was wrong. He glanced around at all the cars, but Tia's shiny, new Honda wasn't among them. Frantic he rushed inside only to be stopped by Dominic. "Dom! Man! Where's Tia? Where's Sugar?" he'd used both of Tianna's nicknames because, in his hysteria, he couldn't remember which one Dominic knew.  
  
"Isn't she with you?" Dom's brow arched curiously.  
  
"Is she with--? No, Dominic! Does she fucking look like she's with me!?" Ro's voice suddenly rose in anger, "Does she look like she's with me Dom?! What the fuck is wro--"  
  
Dom silenced his friend with a gesture and a shout of his own. "Relax!" Then in a calmer tone, "Don't worry about it."  
  
"Dominic, she's still out there. My sister is still out there."  
  
"I said, don't worry about it." with his final word said, Dominic grabbed the key to his car and slipped out of the house to go in search of Tianna.  
  
"Put your hands wear I can see them... behind your head. Do it now lady!" One of the cops, Tia wasn't sure which one yelled at her.  
  
It didn't matter because another voice reached her over the sirens, "Go over! Go over the cars!" It was Dom. He had found her.  
  
"Don't try it lady! if you come along quietly you'll be home by morning."  
  
"Bullshit!"  
  
"Sugar! C'mon! We've got to go now!"  
  
On his last command Tia ran, pulled herself up onto the dumpster and from there jumped onto the roof of the first cop car. One of those larger cops had been expecting her and when she landed he reached up through the window and knocked her feet out from under her with his nightstick. When she fell, Tia busted her lip on the plastic case of those flashing blue lights and with a grow slammed her foot into the cops nose. After that sickening crunch and the cops loud curse Tia stood and ran down the back of the car.  
  
"Stop right where you are!" The cop still trying to climb from the window shouted at her.  
  
Tianna didn't listen and as soon as her feet hit the metal of that trunk she jumped toward the hood of the second car. A deafening shot rang out, and Tia fell back. Her head fell hard against the first car's bumper as she went down from the shot. She never made it to the second car. She never made it... 


	8. Fear and Loathing in the Bathroom

Fear and Loathing in the Bathroom  
  
"Tia!" Dom froze for the length of one second, and in the few there after was out of his car and climbing onto the back of the cop car. As he ran up onto the roof, the officer who had just shot Tianna yelled up at him. Dom, however, didn't hear a word through the adrenaline pumping through him. Though he was deaf to his surroundings-- the sirens underfoot, the cursing of men in blue-- he still managed another coherent action before saving Tia. Before sliding down the front windshield Dominic, in anger, slammed his booted foot into the cop's face. There was no sickening crunch, but the cop had been knocked out.  
  
Once he slid down to where Tia was laying in a bloody heap of flesh and fabric, he scooped her up into his arms, as gently as he could manage. It would still cause her to groan at the slight pain of it, and Dom managed a small smile-- at least she was alive. He squeezed past the cop car, shoving the officer's limp body back into the vehicle and out of his way, and then with quick steps reached his own, still running racer. Leaning through the driver's side he placed Tia's body carefully into the passenger's seat, then got in himself and sped off. They little red Mazda was long gone before the patrol car's could even manage to get out of the alley way.  
  
Dominic shut off the car and shoved the keys into his jacket pocket, then climbed out of the vehicle to run around the front to open Tia's door. He smoothed back her pink hair from her face and looked into those pain filled crystal blue eyes. "Hey," He greeted her quietly as she was just regaining consciousness, "How do you feel?" Sure it was a stupid question to ask but he had to ask it.  
  
Tia blinked up at the man, and squinted from the interior car light's brightness, then in a voice that sounded faintly childish she answered him, "Has my head exploded yet?"  
  
Dominic chuckled lightly, and shook his head, "No. No, it's still all there."  
  
"Oh..." Tia thought about this a moment, and didn't pull away when Dominic turned her head to inspect her eyes, "Well it's going to soon."  
  
"Then I suppose I ought to be getting you inside then, huh? We have tape in there think it'll work?"  
  
"Maybe," Tia tried to smile but her mouth hurt, and she brought her hand up to prod at the wound there.  
  
Dom frowned. Tia's lip was busted and swelling, her knuckles had never been giving the chance to scab up and were still bleeding, she had been shot, he wasn't sure where yet, and she had all the symptoms of a concussion. "Think you can walk, Sugar?"  
  
"Sure thing, boss." Tia scooted herself to the edge of the seat, and put her feet on the ground, but as soon as she pushed herself up her right ankle gave way under her and she lurched forward.  
  
Dominic caught Tianna in those large arms and pulled her up, steadying her. "Guess I should add your ankle to the list of injuries you've amassed. I hope it's just twisted. I'm going to have to carry you okay?"  
  
Tia nodded, "I'll be able to stand once we get inside." She spoke with a conviction that proved she felt helpless and that should stand on her own even if it killed her.  
  
"I know you will." Gently those large hands slid down to her waist and hoisted her up. Once she had put her arms around his neck, and her legs loose around his hips, he moved his hands down underneath her so he could support her weight-- which wasn't a whole lot he noticed, but he still didn't want to drop her. After he'd gotten Tia situated in his arms, he shoved the car door shut and made is way into his house.  
  
Inside they were greeted warmly at first, as was expected due to the adrenaline filled race that had taken place. Soon, though, people began to take notice of the situation, and the party guest were soon clamoring with worry. Most of the worrying seemed to be done by Mia, "Oh my God! Dom what happened? Romeo is going to kill you, Tia."  
  
"Not if I don't beat him too it..." Tia stood leaning as little as possible against Dominic.  
  
"She was shot. Which is presently at the top of the list of things that need to be fixed on Tia." Dom said barely catching Tia when she fell after, again putting too much weight on her right foot, "She also has a concussion and a potentially, but hopefully, not broken ankle."  
  
"I need to talk to you, Brian and Jesse can fix her up."  
  
"Wait a minute. You want me too help with her? Look at me! I...I...I could get seriously hurt!" Jesse pitched in as Dominic handed Tia over to the ex-cop.  
  
"I can help too." Vince added patting Jesse on the head reassuringly.  
  
"There, see? Brian and V are big guys, you'll be fine. Now go, I have to talk to Dominic." On that final command she led her brother into the kitchen to relay the many instructions left for the care of his sister.  
  
"Let's set her on the toilet, " Brian suggested. As it seemed to be an agreeable action, Tia was soon set on the john. Brian moved around the bathroom collecting supplies from the cabinets to patch up the wounded woman.  
  
Once gathered the supplies were set by Jesse on the counter. The boy had opted to play 'nurse' and just be in charge of handing them what they needed when they needed it. "How you doing Tia? You're looking a little more aware."  
  
Vince gave Jesse an odd look and moved to unzip the combat boots that Tia donned. The left one came off smoothly, while the other did not. So when he tugged the black leather down over that swollen foot Tia cried out, and kicked Vince swiftly into the abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. "Fuck! I am! You get the hell away from me!"  
  
Vince backed away so he could regain his breath, then stood and looked at the ex-cop for some guidance. Brian took a deep breath, then while Tia was rubbing her scalp in an effort to rid herself of her headache, he soaked a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol.  
  
"I don't think that's safe, man..." Jesse whispered quietly.  
  
"I used to be a cop. I can handle it." The comment roused a bit of confidence in the man and he walked over to Tianna and sat on the edge of the bathtub in front of her. Gently he took her hand, she didn't protest so he continued, swiping the soaked cotton across the open wounds on her knuckles.  
  
"God damnit! That hurts you bastard!" Her hand was jerk free and in the next instant balled into a fist and slammed into the side of Brian's face, the surprising force of the impact causing him to fall back into that tub. "I swear if you don't stay away from me--" She started to yell again, then Tia became suddenly aware of how bad her head hurt every time she made a noise. So those fingers, bloodied or not, were shoved back into those pink tresses, to massage the pain into remission.  
  
Vince helped Brian out of the bathtub, "Guess cop training didn't teach you a thing about Hellcats." They two walked over to Jesse, and whispered amongst themselves. "Here's the plan. Brian you hold her arms down. Jesse you get the bandages and stuff ready."  
  
"All right." Brian agreed.  
  
"Fine with me. But what are you going to do V?" Jesse asked as he started soaking those cotton balls and pulling a couple bandages from their packages.  
  
"I'm going to clean her up."  
  
With everything set Brian approached Tia slowly, the glare she was giving him was more than a little unnerving, but as soon as Vince had a couple cotton balls in hand, he lunge forward, and wrapped his arms tightly around Tia's. "Now is you're only opportunity, Vince! Don't loose your balls!" He'd meant balls in the courage sense, but Vince didn't quite take it that way.  
  
"You don't let go of me right now, and you'll all loose your fucking jewels!" Tia struggled against Brian, kneeing him in the side repeatedly when he wouldn't release her.  
  
"Oh man..." Vince grabbed Tia's face and squeezed some of that alcohol into the cut at her mouth, but before he could retract his hand Tia's teeth grabbed a hold of him. He jerked back violently, as much from the shock as the pain of it, tripped over Brian and landed hard into the bathtub, his concrete head thudding as it hit the wall.  
  
Brian released his grip and stood, having hoped to get out of the danger zone, but as soon as he stood Tia kicked him roughly between the legs and stood shoving him back to join Vince in the tub as well. "Shit!"  
  
Vince struggled to push Brian out of the tub, and get himself out but neither of them were succeeding in getting out. Brian's inability to get up just kept Vince stuck. "Man, Brian! Get the hell off of me!"  
  
Tia took a couple steps, stumbled and fell against the door with a thud, "Ouch..." but when Jesse reached for her she panicked thinking he was going to try and 'fix' her too and screamed at him, "Don't fucking touch me!" Jesse backed off quickly and Tia swung the door open and stumbled out of the bathroom. 


	9. Paging Dr Toretto

Paging Dr. Toretto  
  
As Dominic and Mia left the relative quiet of the kitchen, they actually laughed at what they saw in the living room. All their guests, at least the one's who hadn't left already, were crowded around the bottom of the stairs listening to the war going on behind the closed bathroom door. When that door slammed open and Tianna stumbled out and then crawled on the floor to the stairs.  
  
"I guess Romeo was right, she's a fighter." Dom said as he and his sister pushed their way through the front of the crowd.  
  
"Well he did say if she came back hurt in any way, aside from him killing you, well she probably would, seeing how she doesn't take to fondly to having her wounds cleaned."  
  
Dominic didn't reply though as Tia was attempting to come down the stairs having pulled herself up with the banister and was now hopping from stair to stair. The second she faltered Dominic scooped her up into his arms and tossed her over his shoulder. "Trying to get away, Sugar?"  
  
"Yes, damnit! Now put me down so I may continue on my way." Tia growled and smacked Dominic hard in the back.  
  
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see I was informed by a certain brother of yours that you have a, how did he put it? Oh yes, violent hatred of doctors. So you see, I'm certain you don't want to go to see one of those." He moved up a few steps before speaking again, "Now, what did you do to my friends?"  
  
Jesse was the first to come out of the bathroom. He laughed as he heard Dom's question, "She only kicked their asses. I just held the bandages, so all that happened to me was some yelling." He laughed again and moved down the stairs passed Dominic.  
  
After Dominic moved up a couple more stairs he had to stop so he could allow Brian and Vince to pass. Brian just patted the man on the shoulder, "Good luck man, you're going to need it," then trotted down the stairs to join Mia.  
  
Vince stopped beside Dominic and pointed angrily to the girl over his friend's shoulder, "You watch out for her Toretto, she's a biter." Dom chuckled and soon there was much laughter from the crowd, as Tia growled and barred her teeth at Vince. The man opened his mouth to say something but just huffed and stalked angrily down the stairs to join the party.  
  
Dominic carried Tianna into the bathroom and kicked the door shut with his foot, then set the injured girl on the counter. "You've made quite an impression on my friends, Sugar," and my bathroom, he added silently, as he chuckled and straightened everything out so he could work on Tia.  
  
"Especially Vince," Tianna laughed and was soon reminded of that pounding headache. Fingers were shoved back into her tresses to rub that scalp.  
  
Dominic shook his head, and carefully pulled Tia's hand from her messy pink hair, and wiped the excess blood from her knuckles with a damp wash cloth, revealing three tiny cut's just below her fingers. A brow arched slightly, "How can such little cuts bleed so profusely?"  
  
"It could be because I'm anemic, and my blood is thin." Tia tried to pull her hand out of Dom's when she saw him reaching for one of the alcohol soaked cotton balls he'd prepared earlier. She whined a bit, "Let go...."  
  
"You know it needs to be done," Dominic said while keeping a firm hold on Tianna's small hand. He finished as quickly as possible with the alcohol when he heard Tia suck in a breath as the burning liquid seeped into her cuts. He tossed the used cotton ball into the trash, and then lifted Tia's hand to his mouth, and blew softly on the cuts. It was something he used to do with his sister. Once he brought her hand down he wrapped them up with clean bandages.  
  
Tia blinked, unaware of how to react to that. She didn't say anything and even forgot to curse in pain as usual. She continued watching Dominic, amazed that a man who typically displayed no gentleness of character, was handling her like a porcelain doll he was afraid to break. But that amazement soon turned to a look of disgust as she saw him pick up another cotton ball and knew he meant to clean her busted lip.  
  
Dom arched a brow at Tianna, and laughed at the face she was making, then set the cotton ball on the counter, he took up the damp wash cloth from earlier. Using the washcloth he wiped the blood off her chin and neck, then reached back for the cotton ball. When Dom went to clean Tia's lip he found that she'd pulled her bottom lip into her teeth to guard it from the painful effects of the alcohol. Dominic frowned and gave Tia a serious look, "Sugar, you know it needs to be cleaned. Now open."  
  
Tianna shook her head furious, yet again giving herself a painful reminder of her splitting headache, but she still refused to relent. Dominic's intimidating look would not work on her.  
  
"Fine, I just wont do it." Dominic spoke as if he'd given up and set the alcohol soaked cotton ball down. However, as soon as Tia freed her bottom lip Dom's hand was firmly on Tia's jaw. He held tight, but not painful, so that her swollen bottom lip couldn't again be shielded.  
  
Tianna gasped; she hadn't expected that. She tried to kick him, only to have him block the blow and push her leg to the side with his own. She would try again, and have exactly the same thing happen. She glared mildly as Dominic, now with one of her legs on either side of him, moved closer to the counter on which Tia sat. The way they were now positioned Tia really couldn't do much, except allow him to clean her lip.  
  
Dominic had expected Tia would try to harm his, equipment, so he'd easily been able to block her attacks. He quickly brought the cotton ball to the cut in her lips and squeezed so that the liquid would dribble into it, killing any bacteria, that may have been there. Tia squealed, her eyes squeezed shut, and her legs had tightened around him as she waited for the pain to stop. Dom held her long tresses back as Tia spit in the sink the looked at the ominous hole in her trench coat. "I think the bullet is still in your shoulder."  
  
Tianna laughed sarcastically. "You think?" She pulled her right arm out of the coat and allowed him to help her get her left arm out, "I know it ." Her eyes snapped up to Dominic's, "I am not going to the hospital."  
  
"I know your not," Dom looked at the open wound. Had it been a couple inches lower and to the right, Tia wouldn't be sitting on the counter now. "I can take it out. I have all the equipment to do it. Brian got it; I don't know how, but he did." Dom spoke as he wiped the blood from the wound, "However, I don't have any anesthetics. So that means no morphine. I can do it though, if you trust me. And also if you promise not to punch me when it hurts."  
  
"First, I don't trust anyone, but I want you to do it. Second, I never make promises I can't keep. I will, however, promise not to punch you until you're done fixing me."  
  
"Fair enough." Dominic rolled up a clean washcloth, "Here, bite down on this. I'd give you something else if I had it, but I fear you'd probably break anything else," He laughed trying to lighten the mood, and rubbed the alcohol around the edge of the wound, preparing it for the next step.  
  
Tianna did as Dominic said, and bit down on the washcloth. Perhaps it would keep her from screaming. As an extra precaution she sat on her hands, ignoring the pain that it caused in her right hand. It had to be done though so she wouldn't try to hit Dom as he was digging around in her shoulder. Her whole body tensed up, and Tia knew she should try and relax, but she'd been shot as was about to have some one take the bullet out, with out having knocked her unconscious first. Relaxing, just, wasn't an option.  
  
Dominic pulled a pair of surgical tweezers out of the plastic wrapping that protected them, and then warned Tia quietly, "I'm not going to lie to you-- this is really going to hurt. I can still take you to the hospital." Dom gave her a sympathetic look when she shook her head no to the very idea. So very carefully he continued, inserting the tweezers into her shoulder, not faltering when Tia's breath still and she locked her legs around him in an effort not to scream.  
  
The wound wasn't as deep as expected and Dom soon had a hold of the bullet. He ensured that his hold on the chunk of metal was secure then, regrettably-- as it would cause Tianna a great deal more pain-- pulled the tweezers out slowly so as to not lose his hold on the bullet. As soon as both were free of her flesh they were dropped into the sink. Next he threaded the needle he would be using to stitch her wound closed.  
  
Tianna's crystal eyes went wide with fear and her jaw dropped, when she saw the size of the needle Dominic was using. "Can't we just use a Band- Aid?" She whimpered out quietly.  
  
Dominic set the needle down and smoothed a hand over her hair allowing it to trace down her jaw. He shook his head, "Band-Aid wont work this time. Just close your eyes, and try not to think about it. I'll finish quickly."  
  
Something in Dominic's reassuring tone had stopped Tia from cursing at him. How could he expect her to not think about the needle? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then nodded for him to continue.  
  
Dominic smiled warmly at her bravery, then set to stitching the bullet hole closed. He wondered as he worked if Tia's fear was more of a phobia of needles, as she drew in air in short, rapid breaths. No, couldn't be a phobia. If that had been the case she never would have let him do it at all. This just hurt. A needle entering, and exiting, her flesh repeated, without being numbed first, had to hurt. Tianna was experiencing great pain, so he was glad he was just a couple stitches away from being done. The stitches would be tied off, and the excess cut free, then the closed wound would be bandaged to keep the stitches from ripping.  
  
Tia took in a deep breath and unlocked her legs from his waist. Took another deep breath and practically screamed, "Ouch!" Then after that loud announcement that it had hurt, alot, she did just as she had promised to do- - she punched Dominic. Her fist connected squarely with his jaw, just before she fell limp against him, with her head resting on his chest, "Ouch..."  
  
Dominic moved his jaw around, and rubbed the side of his face. He hadn't realized that Tianna hit so hard. She definitely did not hit like a girl. When she slumped against him, he automatically wrapped his arms around her in a tight, soothing embrace and held her until her breathing steadied. "You okay now?"  
  
"Have you ever been shot before?" She asked quietly.  
  
"Shot at but never actually shot."  
  
"Well when you get shot, and you get someone to dig the hunk of metal out of your flesh, and you experience the searing pain first hand, you'll know, that right now, I am not feeling okay."  
  
Dominic laughed a bit and pulled back from her, running his fingers into that thick mass of hair, to feel the knot the knot on the back of her head. "That's some bump, and your pupils are dilated. How's your head feel?"  
  
"Didn't you ask that earlier? Yes, you did. If is hasn't exploded yet, then I still feel as if it is going to. Why, though?"  
  
"When you hit it on the bumper you were knocked out."  
  
"I was out?"  
  
"Yeah, for nearly five minutes. I got worried you weren't going to wake up." For some reason that though bothered Dominic more than he imagined it should.  
  
"Don't worry 'bout it," She patted Dominic on the should, "I don't die as easy as all that."  
  
"Oh? Have you come so close before that you can say that?"  
  
Unwilling to talk about her past to Dominic, she changed the subject. "Fix my ankle so we can get down to that party of yours. Your guest are probably wondering if I killed you, or since we've been so quiet, what we may have really been doing." She offered a flirty wink, and then held out her ankle for him to wrap in the Ace bandage he pulled out from the cabinet under the sink. 


	10. View From the Living Room Floor

View From the Living Room Floor  
  
The party had ended around two in the morning, much earlier than the usual. Dominic supposed the fact that someone got shot killed everyone's buzz. Despite the fact it didn't last as long, the guests had some how still managed to make the usual mess. As he and his sister were cleaning up the trash, Dominic noticed how Mia resembled the walking dead. "You can go on to bed if you want, I'll finish down here."  
  
"You sure?" Mia questioned through a yawn.  
  
Dominic nodded and took the trash bag from Mia, "Now go to bed."  
  
Mia headed toward the stairs, but before she went up she turned and faced her brother, "She's staying her tonight."  
  
"What? Who is?"  
  
Mia waved toward the couch, "She is. She has to be at work by nine forty-five. Don't let her be late." With that announcement Mia climbed up stairs and disappeared into her bedroom.  
  
Dom turned to see who was on the couch and saw that pink haired girl stretched out on the tan leather. Her boots were on the floor beside her purse. And the girl herself was in an odd position-- she was laying on her stomach, and using her right arm as a pillow. Her right leg was stretched out and resting on the arm of the couch, while her other leg hung off the front of the couch and brushed against the floor. Her left arm was also dangling off the front of the couch. She looked as if she were about to fall right off. Dom chuckled and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch to drape over her body.  
  
Dominic was about a half an hour into cleaning when he decided to rest in his big arm chair. Just a little rest and then he would clean some more. As soon as his eyes shut though he was asleep. With no hope of returning to his cleaning in a timely manner.  
  
Tianna woke with a start from bad dreams, and immediately panicked not remembering where she was and temporarily having been blinded by the onslaught of light to her sensitive blue eyes. Her mind quickly danced over all that had happened and she realized she was still at the Toretto house. Her hand reached out to her left, as that was where she remembered the lamp being, and groped around for the pull chain. Once the light was turned off, Tia opened her eyes and adjusted to the dark. The first thing she did was look at the clock, "Three fifteen," Tia smirked, "That's a whole half hour long than usual. Yay for me." She added the last bit sarcastically. Her gaze slid around the place, and she decided to pick up cleaning where Mia and Dominic had left off, "It's the least I can do. I mean, the man did come back for me."  
  
For about an hour Tia bagged all the trash, set the glass beer bottles on the counter, and swept up. She'd been unable to find the dust pan so there was a neat little pile of dirt in the middle of the kitchen floor. To make up for that small inconvenience she washed the few dishes in the sink, before heading back into the living room. A glance was given to the clock, and not surprisingly, at four thirty-five, Tia still wasn't tired. So she settled down on the floor in front of the television and turned it on. After adjusting the volume to something suitable for the early hour, she would press the power button on that Playstation.  
  
Dom stirred. His dream had suddenly shifted from random images of pink candy, blood and sirens to race cars and Tianna. He woke quickly and hand a hand over his head. He glanced over to see the TV on and Need for Speed: High Stakes on the screen. When he couldn't see he leaned to the side and saw Tia laying on the floor. He smiled softly then spoke, "What are you doing up?"  
  
At the sudden voice Tia jumped, the controller flying from her hands. Luckily she did manage to catch it before it hit the floor. It took Tianna a moment to realize it was just Dominic and struggled to control her breathing and steady her heartbeat. She looked back at him with those wide crystal eyes, "I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?"  
  
Dom chuckled softly and moved to sit by Tia on the floor, "Not exactly. Sorry I scared you." Dominic grabbed a controller and hit the restart button on the console.  
  
"Me? Scared?" Tia laughed cockily, "Never."  
  
"Oh yeah?" Dominic placed a hand over that still rapidly beating heart and asked, "The why is your heart beating so fast?"  
  
Pearly whites chewed the inside of that lower lip, and her gaze darted up to the ceiling in thought. Yeah, well, she could think of a couple reasons her heart was racing now. She shoved those thoughts away quickly, and looked back to Dom, "Okay, maybe I was a little scared. Now lets race." She grinned and turned her attention to the game.  
  
Dominic would do the same. He had noticed the hesitation before her answer, but didn't say anything about it. If fact he might never say anything about it. He hardly knew this girl, but he decided that maybe getting to know her wasn't a bad idea. "What's your favorite color, Sugar?"  
  
Tia glanced up from the game to give Dom one of those looks, "Where did that come from?"  
  
"I'm not a silent racer, answer the question." Dom's virtual car pulled across the finish line just ahead of Tia's. "That's one for me, by the way."  
  
"As if you can't tell." She grinned and they started another race, "It's pink though. My favorite color is pink. What about you?" She asked, and used a cheat she knew for the game, which gave a boost of speed to her virtual car and sent her speeding over the finish line ahead of Dominic. "Now we're tied."  
  
"I like blue. All varieties of blue. And you cheated."  
  
"Did not. Next question." As they played again Tia didn't use her little cheat.  
  
"Favorite food?" Dom's brow furrowed as Tia passed over the line before him.  
  
Tia grinned, "Two for me. And I'll eat anything. Except cherries, I think I'm allergic to those." She watched Dominic as he rose and pulled the two big cushions off the sofa and leaned them against the coffee table, so they could sit a little more comfortably on the floor.  
  
"Okay, no cherries. What about flower?" Dom settled back down by Tia and they raced again. "Pink roses?"  
  
"Nope." Tia shook her head, which only hurt a little from earlier, "Daisies."  
  
"Pink ones?"  
  
Tianna laughed, and in doing so lost the race to Dominic. "No," She shook her head again, "White ones. Now it's my turn to ask."  
  
"It's three to two now."  
  
"Liar! We're tied. And you accuse me of cheating." Tia smacked Dominic in the shoulder playfully.  
  
"Can you blame me for trying? I may have met my match here..."  
  
"Speaking of which, favorite food, favorite flower-- has all the makings of a date if you ask me. Which you did actually, but you planning on asking me out Toretto?" She smirked a little, those blue eyes held a teasing glow.  
  
"I think you best keep your eyes on the screen, and focus on racing."  
  
Tia laughed, but didn't say anything. they would continue to race for the next few hours. A grand total of fifty races, each of them winning twenty-five. They joked around, the laughed, the talked, they sat in comfortable silence, they played some more games-- until they ultimately ended up falling around six or six thirty in the morning. The sun was coming up when sleep finally took them. 


	11. Some Bad Influences

Some Bad Influences  
  
Dominic grumbled as he woke, and stirred away from the weight on his left side. When he opened his eyes to investigate the suspicious weight. When he saw Tia there he chuckled softly and carefully moved away from her. "Must've fallen asleep..." He said when he noted the game was still playing on the television even though they no longer were. He returned the cushions to the couch and turned the TV and Playstation off. The controllers were set on the game console and Dominic lifted Tia, ever so carefully, into his arms and moved her back onto the couch. "Sleep a little longer, Princess. You deserve the rest."  
  
When Dominic started the pot of coffee it was ten minutes until eleven. He finished cleaning up, and dragged the trash out to the curb. The glass bottles were tossed into the recycling bin Mia had insisted upon having. When he came back into the house he was surprised that Tianna was already up, and apparently not much of a morning person.  
  
"Shit! Shit, shit, shit. Where is that damned cell phone?!" Tia was frantic and snatched her purse up violently and spilled the contents out on the coffee table. There was the two hundred dollars and the pink slip she'd gambled at the race, plus the six grand she'd won that same night. There was also a whole mess of candy, her car keys, some change and even a pager-- but no cell phone. "Where is that damned thing hiding..." She questioned her self, unaware that Dominic was leaning in the door frame watching her and drink a cup of coffee. "Ah! It's in my coat!" Despite her sudden revelation she frowned angrily. She had no idea where her coat was.  
  
"By the door," Dominic said taking a swallow of that black coffee.  
  
"Thank you!" She replied in a chipper voice then dashed, as well as she could with a still injured ankle, over to her coat to dig around in her pockets. Once the cell phone was in hand, she quickly called number 2 on her speed dial and waited. "Charlie? Yes this is Tia, let me talk to Romeo...Yes I realize I'm not there... And yes, I realize you're working my shift." Tia sighed, then growled slightly as her coworker went on and on about her not being at work. "Damnit! Charlie just give the phone to... Romeo, hello big brother," Tianna's voice went sickeningly sweet as her brother came on the line, but it did so to no avail. Romeo was furious; his yelling could be heard across the room by Dominic. Tia sighed and set the phone on the table, then walked over to Dominic, "May I have a cup of that?"  
  
"Sure, Princess. How do you take it?"  
  
"Milk, lots and lots of sugar, and if it's hot a couple ice cubes, please."  
  
Dominic laughed as Romeo was still yelling, the moved into the kitchen to fix Tia's coffee. He drank his black so it took him a minute to find the sugar. When he walked back into the living room, Tia was leaning over the coffee table to clearly hear what Romeo was cursing at her, "He's still yelling?" He asked as he handed her the coffee.  
  
"Yep." Was the simple reply given as Tianna took a long drink of the rejuvenating liquid.  
  
"Want me to get rid of him?"  
  
"That'd be nice, but do you think you can?" She queried as she took a seat on the couch.  
  
"I better be able to. I'm the reason your late. Mia told me you were supposed to be at work at nine something."  
  
Tia smirked and motioned him to the phone. This would certainly be interesting to watch. Dominic picked up the cell phone and faked a horrid cough. The yelling stopped. "Yeah I know. I sound awful, don't I? It just came on all of a sudden-- coughing, fever, the whole works..." Dominic coughed again, and grinned when Tia had to set her coffee down so her hands would be free to cover the giggling that was trying to escape her. Dom continued, "Mia didn't want me to be alone. You know, just in case it gets worse. You know how that sisterly love thing works," After another cough Tia couldn't take anymore, and let out a burst of girlish giggles in to the sofa cushion. After a moment Dominic was off the phone. "Well Princess, you're of the hook."  
  
Tia's laughing slowed and she looked up at Dominic eyes glistening, "Thanks a lot, but I wonder if it'll work that well when I try it." She laughed a little, "He really is a pain in the ass when he gets like that. he just yells and fusses, and goes on and on an on, like the fucking energizer bunny only with out the pink." Tianna finished her cough and stood, "So what are we going to do now that I'm free for the day?"  
  
"Well, we can get your car, we need to stop by and see Mia so she can keep up our lie, and then I'm going to take you to lunch. How's that sound?"  
  
"Sounds yummy. Do you have a clean shirt I can wear though? This one's got a hole in it." She stuck a finger through the hole, and wiggled her finger around for emphasis.  
  
Dom chuckled, "Yeah. I have one. Follow me," he replied the head up the stairs toward his room.  
  
Tia limped up after him and entered an off-white, and rather boring, but typical man's room. She leaned against the door as she watched him searching through his dresser. She caught the gray muscle tank he tossed at her.  
  
"It's the smallest one I own. I hope it works."  
  
"I'm sure it'll be fine. If it's not, I'll just walk around in my bra all day." She grinned wickedly, "Now, don't look."  
  
"Don't what?" Dom's mind was still registering, or perhaps still lingering, on the bra comment. So he didn't realize what she'd said, until Tia's shirt was off and she was pulling his down over her head. His head canted off to one side first in admiration of the glimpse his was given of her bare flesh, then in curiosity at the scars scattered along her torso. Dominic indexed that question and met Tia's gaze, "It's a little long don't you think?"  
  
Tia laughed brightly, and Dom realized he enjoyed the sound. "You want me walking around in my bra don't you?" She gather the end of the shirt up in her hands, and tied it into a knot at her side. It left a little flesh exposed, but like the black bra that showed through the thin material, she didn't care if the world saw it. "You're a bad influence, Toretto."  
  
"What? Where'd that come from?"  
  
"You are a bad influence. You've got me playing hooky. Next thing you know, we'll be in detention, or worse grounded!" Tia mocked a look of panic, "Then you'll have me sneaking out of the house to come play video games with you in the middle of the night!"  
  
Dominic laughed a full boisterous laugh, at Tia's little act. "Yeah that's me," he said in that gravely voice, "but I think you're the real bad influence."  
  
"Good. I am." She grinned then grabbed his hand to pull him out of the room, "Lets go now. I want my car back." She squealed when Dominic picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.  
Dom laughed again, a corny cartoon villain laugh. "You think you can pull me out of the room? Ha!" He wrapped his arm around Tia's legs so she wouldn't fall, "That got you real far didn't it?  
"Well it got me this is a familiar view." She patted Dom's rear, and laughed. "Now, put me down, before I bite it" 


	12. Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek  
  
"Do you remember which alley my Civic is in?" Tianna asked as she slipped her arm into Dom's as they headed down the sidewalk.  
  
"Yeah, it's this one right up here." Dominic pointed at the alley about ten feet in front of them and to the right.  
  
Tia's blue eyes darted about, not much of this looked familiar, "How do you know? With all the commotion, and cops, and chaos...."  
  
Dom shrugged, "I'm not sure how I even found you actually. So, I couldn't tell you how I'm sure this is the alley." They walked into that alley and stopped.  
  
"Well, the skid marks and blood, might be a clue." Tia said casually and headed further into the alley toward her car.  
  
Dominic hesitated, remembering the violent scene from the previous night. When he saw them shoot her, he was overcome with a sense of loss that he couldn't explain. He shook the thoughts from his head and followed after her, she was alive, last night didn't matter today. "Holy shit, Princess. How'd you do that?"  
  
Tia was crouched on the pavement in front of her car, with her hands in her hair, and curses spewing out of her mouth, "I can't believe it's this fucking bad." Both ends were fairly crunched up, the paint job was practically destroyed. To her it looked not repairable.  
  
"You turned the car all the way around-- with out getting yourself killed, or blown up."  
  
Tia gave Dominic a pathetic look, "I can't fix this, Toretto."  
  
Dom chuckled, "Have some faith. I'm sure the car will be fine, but you don't believe me do you?" When Tia shook her head no, Dom continued, "Then we'll take her to Harry's and if he says when can't fix it, then you can complain, but not until then. Okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Lets go then," Dominic climbed into the car, and Tia followed, climbing in throughout he passengers side window. Once she was situated, Tia handed Dominic the keys. Dom expertly maneuvered the Civic out of the alley with out further damaging the exterior.  
  
When they reached The Racer's Edge, Harry looked the car over and determined that the damage was solely exterior, and could be fixed easily within a couple days. This of course was the same thing Dominic had told Tia on the way over, but she had insisted on the second opinion. After telling Harry to put the cost on Dominic's tab, they headed off again, this time to see Mia.  
  
As they were walking along, Dominic wrapped his arm around Tia's shoulders, edging her a bit closer to him. "I told you so," he teased lightly.  
  
Tia turned her nose up snobbishly, and smirked, "You told me nothing Toretto. I always knew it would be okay."  
  
Dom stopped, and stared after Tia as she kept going, both brows arched. "Oh yeah?" He said, "I don't believe that for a second."  
  
She turned and faced him both hand on her hips, "There was never a doubt in my mind. I told you that car could be fixed," Tianna grinned in a challenging yet, playful way, at Dominic.  
  
"Oh you little--" Dom accepted the challenge and made a grab for the pink haired imp, but she dodged. Swift as a rabbit she weaved her way in and out of the crowd. Dominic kept up, a task he found surprisingly difficult considering she was injured. The two were oblivious to anyone else besides themselves.  
  
"Oh, daisies," Tia stopped abruptly, to grab a daisy from a vendor's bucket. Almost directly after she brought that daisy up to her nose was she snatched up by to strong arms and twirled about in the air. "Put me down!" She squealed through a fit of giggles.  
  
Dominic stopped twirling and turned Tia so that she was facing him, still up in the air, Tia would ask, "Please, put me down? It's weird not touching the ground." She scrunched her nose up in a cute way.  
  
Dom slowly set her down, their bodies sliding together as the action was done. Dominic hands lingered low on Tia's waist and her own were brought up the rest around his neck. They both leaned in toward each other, and it seemed they were going to share a kiss when the purr of a car nearing, caused Tia to focus all her attention toward the sleek black Porsche driving slowly down the road.  
  
Dominic watched, though without an understanding, what was going on. Whoever was driving the vehicle seemed to be looking for something though the windows were tinted so he couldn't be certain. Worse was his observation of the girl. She trembled visibly and the daisy in her white knuckled fist, was broken. His friend's blue eyes were wide, with what he thought was fear, and turned, with and unblinking gaze, on the black Porsche.  
  
They car drove on, without seeming to notice her and Tia let out the breath she'd been holding, and looked down at her hand upon noticing the stickiness there. She frowned at the broken flower, reached in her pocket and pulled out a dollar for the man, "Sorry about the flower." Then she started walking again.  
  
"Who was that, Princess?" Dom asked as he regained his place at Tia's side.  
  
Tianna offered Dominic and apologetic gaze, "We have to be getting to the shop. We have to tell Mia about what you told Romeo."  
  
"You told Ro that, you were sick and I asked Tia to stay with you? All because you let her sleep late, and made her late for work, like I told you not to."  
  
"Yeah basically," Dominic said with a boyish smile.  
  
"So now you want me to continue this lie for you, which, if I do, and you get caught, then I'll be going down in flames with the two of you. It'd be easier just for me to tell him and keep myself safe."  
  
"No! Please, Mia, don't tell Romeo. He's such a pain in the ass." Tia pleaded, adding in the whole pout and puppy dog eyes.  
  
"Fine. I will. It's a one time only deal though. Got it?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"We got it."  
  
"Good. Now leave. I can't lie for you if you're here, and he usually comes to lunch around now."  
  
"Really? It's kind of early."  
  
"No I mean now. He driving here now. You guys have to hide. He's coming, I can see that Mustang of his now."  
  
"Shit!" Dominic cursed and jumped over the counter to hide on the floor behind it.  
  
"What are you doing, Dominic?" Tia climbed up in her stool, to lean over the counter and peer at Dom, but as soon as she poked her head and shoulders over the counter, Dom grabbed her and pulled her down on top of him. Tia squealed and giggled, and Dom was forced to cover her mouth, until she quieted.  
  
"Hey Ro. How's it going?"  
  
"Not too terrible considering my best worker is baby-sitting you brother."  
  
"He was sick, Ro, what was I supposed to do if he started puking his guts out all over the place?"  
  
A look of disgust graced Romeo's features, "Lovely, Mia."  
  
Mia grinned, "What can I get you for lunch?"  
  
"Turkey Club, and a Corona."  
  
"Coming right up." Mia fixed the sandwich and pulled the beer out of the refrigerator and started to make it to go.  
  
"That's okay Mia, I'm eating here today."  
  
Mia glanced down quickly, and saw Tia and Dom curse silently, then smiled cheerfully at Romeo and set his food and drink on the counter. "There you go."  
  
Romeo tossed six bucks on the counter for Mia, and began to eat his sandwich, "So how badly off was Tia when Dominic found her?"  
  
"Well she was sh--" Her words were cut off when Tianna smacked her in the leg, "She was a little shaken up, had a couple scrapes and bruises, a twisted ankle. She said she was doing pretty good."  
  
"Well considering some of the things she's been through with her dad, a couple scrapes and bad ankle, is nothing to her."  
  
Dominic looked questioningly at Tia, and when she turned away to hide the memories in her eyes, his hand lightly dragged along her jaw, to turn her back to him. "Your dad?" He mouthed. When she stared into his eyes, Dominic knew she was trying to decide if she could trust him. So when she nodded, he could practically see her heart breaking in those eyes. Dominic wrapped his arms around the girls and just held her. It was a silent vow of protection.  
  
"Well, that's none of my business so I wont ask. Though I'm not entirely sure that, that makes me feel better about her situation."  
  
"It was just a poorly given, and entirely unnecessary, insight into a life I don't expect anyone would understand." Ro finished off his sandwich, and stood. I should be getting back. Charlie's the type to burn a place down if he's not under constant supervision."  
  
"A pyromaniac?"  
  
"No," Romeo laughed, "An idiot." 


	13. Looking to the Past

Looking to the Past  
  
Dominic had let Tia pick out where he was taking her to lunch, and he was more than happy to oblige her with a never-ending bucket of shrimp at the Cajun place on the boulevard. How much she could eat astonished him; she'd finished a bucket and a half before he'd finished his first. Now she was on her third bucket, and was slowly picking away at it. Something was still bothering him though.  
  
Tianna, who had become accustomed to picking up on different vibes from people, questioned it, "What's wrong, Dominic?"  
  
"Can I ask you a question, Princess?"  
  
"Sure. As long as I can ask you one," Tia replied as she peeled the hard shell off of a shrimp and popped the spiced meat into her mouth.  
  
"Where do you put all that food?"  
  
"Doctors said I have a high metabolism." She arched a brow at him, "Now, what's the real question?"  
  
"What made you so afraid of your father, I'm assuming it was him in the Porsche. Your not as old as you said are you?"  
  
"That's two questions," Tia said as she took a sip of Dom's Corona, "and I never said how old I was."  
  
Dominic frowned, Tianna had obviously chosen which question she was going to answer, "Your question then."  
  
"Why do you call me 'Princess'? You have to answer honestly"  
  
"So you wouldn't believe it's some thing I call all females?"  
  
"No, not at all. I can hardly see such a girlish term coming out of your mouth all the time. Now give me an answer I can accept."  
  
"Okay, This morning, when you were sleeping on the couch, you reminded me of Sleeping Beauty."  
  
"Really?" Tia grinned, "Does that mean you think I'm beautiful, Toretto?"  
  
"Hey, now who's asking multiple questions?" Dominic laughed low.  
  
"All right, next question."  
  
"Why are you so scared of your father?"  
  
Tia scowled, "You just aren't going to let me avoid that question are you?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
"Fine," She huffed angrily, "but you don't want to know."  
  
"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know."  
  
Tianna contemplated on this for a moment, then as she spoke her voice was weak, lacking the conviction it did all other times, "I guess I'm not really sure where to start...the beginning is usually the best place, but with Aidan there were a lot of beginnings. I suppose I can start with him, my father. Rather, my step-father, Aidan O'Brien. He's the president of O'Brien and Company. Rich, arrogant, fucker. My mother and I never saw a penny of the money he made. Well, that's wrong. We did see it-- in the car he drove, the suits he wore to work, and in the liquor he drank. Always the expensive kind, and always the highest proof he could get his greedy hands on."  
  
Dominic watched as Tia thought about eating the shrimp in her hand, then frowned when she looked at it as if she might be ill. He let her toss the shrimp back in the bucket and waved for the waiter to take the food away, and bring the check. Once the waiter was gone he nodded to Tianna, "Go on," he beckoned her.  
  
"The alcohol never mixed well with Aidan; he had a nasty temper. He got violent when he drank too much, really violent-- he always drank too much. It scared my mom and me. The night I ran away, when I finally went, and stayed, with Romeo, Aidan had thrown a chair at me. I don't know why it took a chair for me to leave. I've been thrown into the dining room table, down basement stairs...but for some reason having a chair thrown at me was what helped make the final decision.  
  
"Anyway, I left, and I didn't go back. So, now, my dear father has cops and cooperate spies out looking for me. He'd kill me if he knew where I was. He would come find me, and beat me until I was limp as a rag doll." Tia noted the skeptical look that Dom was giving her, and elaborated, "I'm not lying. Aidan was always very violent with me and very neglecting. I eat as much as I do because I remember not being fed, I'm obsessive about staying clean, because I remember being covered in filth and rank stench." Tia's voice dropped an octave, and seemed a little distant, "I don't even know what Christmas looks like...I always spent it locked in the attic."  
  
Tia shook her head and continued in a more audible tone, "I didn't mind that so much though. You get used to it after a while, and learn to occupy your time. It was the beatings I couldn't handle. I couldn't stand having his hands on me."  
  
"He hit you?" Dominic's hands clenched into white knuckled fists beneath the table, and his eyes grew dark.  
  
Tianna offered Dominic a calming smile before she continued, "He didn't just hit me Dominic, he beat the holy fuck out of me." He voice got quieter, as she kept going, "No one ever believed me though. They thought I didn't like him because he wasn't my real dad, that I was only saying the things I did to try and get rid of him. Then, I think when I was fourteen, it's hard to remember it seems like it's been forever, one of my teachers did finally listen. The cops came, I was almost excited. Then I realized that they weren't arresting him. They had come for me. They had this thing called a green warrant...they took me to a hospital for the, how did they put it, mentally challenged.  
  
"They gave me over to the doctors, and the medications, and the treatments..." Tia shivered visible as he mind went back to that time, but she shoved the thought away quickly and pressed on, "I didn't understand it then, I was too young. Aidan owns the cops. All he had to do was offer him enough money and they'd do whatever he wanted."  
  
When Tianna grew silent, Dom studied her for a moment, then stood. He moved around the table and pulled Tia up, and wrapped his arms around her when she was standing. "Let's get out of here, you don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to." After she nodded her agreement, Dominic paid for the food and they headed on their way.  
  
They had been walking for about ten minutes when, Tia started talking again, "I got out two years ago." Tianna took they had Dom offered, and pulled what strength she could from it, "Three years I spent in that place, but every week felt like it had years within it. Years with pills, and drug laced gruel forced down my throat. Years of needles being pushed through my flesh. Years suffering through what the doctors like to call, 'therapy'." Tia grew silent for the span of three or four minutes, "It's odd, the feeling of laying in a few inches of water, just enough to cover your ears, and watching them turn the knob above your head, and being so incapacitated by these straps, that you can't do anything but scream as the electric currents tear through your body. It's not something easily forgotten."  
  
"Shock therapy?" Dominic looked as surprised as he sounded, and stopped to face Tia. "That's illegal in the states isn't it?"  
  
"At the intensity they were using on me yeah. It's illegal. You have to understand, that didn't stop them from doing it, because they knew they wouldn't get arrested. Aidan owns the cops, remember?"  
  
"How did you survive?"  
  
"I don't know, but certainly not easily."  
  
"What happened when you got out?" Dom took Tia's hand again, and laced his fingers through hers, and started them walking again.  
  
"I was put back into Aidan's custody. For about a half a year, I was placid, and obedient. This over course still wasn't good enough for him, and he still did the things he did, but I couldn't do anything about it. After that though, I became my usual defiant self, and the beatings started again. I wasn't going to stand for it though. I wasn't just going to let him beat me. So, I fought back-- as much as I could, as hard as I could." Her face contorted into an expression of thought as she decided the words she'd use next, "It didn't do me any good though. He just beat me harder, and more often. As soon as I could fight back, you know, once I was weakened, he would...," Tianna took a shaky breath, "He would rape me. He always made it my fault. 'Look what you made me do, baby. Baby, why do you make me do these things?' Bastard." Tia cursed quietly, but tears threatened to fall.  
  
Dominic growled, "Why didn't your mother do anything!" He took his anger out verbally on the mother, "Where the hell was she?" He was severely pissed off. Just the thought that, that man-- that anyone-- would do those things to Tianna, his princess, enraged him. He'd only been this angrily violent once before, when his dad died.  
  
"Mommy?" Tia's voice carried a childish under tone, "Mommy left...when I was little." One tear fell and Dominic wiped it away with his thumb before it reached the corner of her mouth.  
  
"Why did she leave you with that man!" At the tormented look he was getting from Tianna, Dom forced himself to calm down enough to talk to her, "Where did she go, Princess?"  
  
"She went to..." Tia sighed, her voice even quieter, "She died. Aidan killed her...smothered her with a pillow...in the bed they shared." She was silent for a moment, "He made me watch. I was four when he killed her, four when he started to...touch, me...four when he started neglecting me. We had barely been living with him for two months."  
  
"I'm sorry, Tia, I didn't know," Dominic spoke quietly once he realized she was done telling her story. He had an understanding know of what Ro said early about having insight into a life that wasn't expected to be understood. Sure, he still didn't have all the pieces put together, but at least he'd been given a couple more to had to the puzzle.  
  
"Of course you didn't," Tianna smiled softly up at Dominic, "You would not have asked, if you already knew the story. But that's the story of my life. In a nutshell at least." She managed a quiet laugh, "I don't think there's enough time in this world, or the next, for the complete telling."  
  
"Why did you tell me your story?"  
  
"Because you asked me too."  
  
"Do you always do what other people ask?"  
  
"Almost never actually."  
  
"Then why--"  
  
"There's just something abut you, Toretto. Something in you that I can trust. Something that just makes me want to tell my life to you, to just hand it over, and feel that it's being protected, and sheltered, and loved." Tianna sighed, and smiled warmly, "There's something about you that make's me feel safe, Dominic. I've only ever felt safe with one other person, but it took him dying for me, before I realized that safe was what I was feeling." She gave a quick moment of silence to that remembered part of her life, then continued, "I can sleep with you.... That came out wrong, let me try again, I can sleep when your near. I can laugh, I can throw all my worries away, at least for a few moments when I'm with you.  
  
"I know that we've only known each other maybe seventy-two hours, but I knew all that the moment you came back for me. I knew it even when you were digging the bullet out of my bleeding flesh. I didn't admit it though, until I started telling you about my past." Tia turned her gaze down to the ground, and took both Dominic's hands before looking back up at him, "Dominic?"  
  
"Yeah, Princess?"  
  
"Thank you," She whispered, but knew he would hear, "for making me feel safe." 


	14. Promises Made

Promises Made  
  
They had walked the rest of the way to the house in silence. Dominic just absorbed all that Tianna had confided in him. He couldn't believe that so many horrible things had happened to her. Despite that, he had a new respect for her, she had survived all that, was still surviving. She had strength, whether she acknowledged it or not, and he adored her for it.  
  
Dominic noticed that Tia's pace had slowed considerably, and she was limping. Their earlier game of cat and mouse had put too much pressure on her ankle, he could also see spots of red showing through the bandages on her hand and shoulder. "Time to change those," Dominic said helping Tianna up the front steps and into the house.  
  
"No digging around in my shoulder this time, okay?"  
  
"I promise no digging, but I'll have to clean the area again." He chuckled softly when Tia scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Don't worry, Princess. I stole some Peroxide on the way out of the store."  
  
"You stole from your own store?"  
  
"Yes, I did. Now let's go, up the stairs with you." Dominic let Tia climb up the stairs on her own, helping her only when she slipped a little. He knew she felt weaker with the injuries, and knew she'd need to prove her strength, more to herself than anyone else. Once they got into the bathroom though, he did help her up onto the counter. "Let's take a look at these wounds."  
  
"Shoulder or knuckles first?" Tia asked, quietly observing Dominic with mild curiosity. She wanted to know what it was about him, that made her feel the way that she did.  
  
"Shoulder," Dom replied and slid the strap-like sleeve of the tank top off her shoulder. Then slowly he pulled the bandage from the wound, looking up when Tia winced, "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, keep going before I decide to look at it," Tia had her gaze locked on Dominic, despite the slightly oozing feeling at her shoulder.  
  
Dom chuckled and wet a cotton ball with the peroxide, then wiped it around the bullet hole. He frowned at how much it bubbled up, but at least the stuff was doing it's job. Dominic had to repeat the process three more times before it stopped bubbling, but afterwards had covered it again with a fresh bandage. "Knuckles now."  
  
Tianna, with out hesitation, held her right hand out to Dominic. She wasn't so wary of his touch, nor his cleaning her wounds. He wasn't a doctor, and he wasn't going to hurt her. She was learning that now. Slowly, but she was learning it.  
  
Dom smiled comfortingly at the pink-haired woman, and unwrapped her knuckles. Once over the wounds with the Peroxide was enough, and he soon had them wrapped up with clean bandages. "Do you want me to re-wrap your ankle?"  
  
Tia nodded, and while he was carefully slipping the boot off her right foot, she spoke, "Dominic, you wont tell Ro, will you?" She chewed her lip lightly, "You wont tell him what I told you."  
  
"Not if you don't want me to, but doesn't he already know?" The tan Ace bandage was unwound, then wrapped snugly back around Tia's ankle.  
  
"I don't want you to, and no, actually, he doesn't know-- not all of it at least." Those sad blue eyes caught Dominic's gaze and held it for a moment. "He doesn't know I was in the institution, and he doesn't know about Mommy, and he really doesn't know that something about you. Please don't tell him. Promise you wont."  
  
Dominic was silent as he slid the little metal clips into the tan fabric, they held the bandage in place with out having to tie any knots. For a moment he just stared into her eyes, and slowly began to feel the weight she must be carrying, began to feel the weight he carried now. She'd confided in him, and told him things even her own brother didn't know. He could see the fear in her eyes at the mere thought of Ro finding out more about her past. "I promise. I know what it's like to be caged, you finally get out and you don't want anyone to know the hell you went through. Don't want them to think badly of you, or say anything hurtful." He saw the fear turn into curiosity, and continued, "A few years back, I nearly beat a guy to death with a torque wrench. I had only meant to hit him once, which I suppose isn't any better than the many times I did hit him. I just couldn't stop. All I could think about was the vision of my dad's car being sent slamming straight into the wall after being hit by this guy. The tanks blowing and my dad screaming." Dominic looked at the floor quickly then brought his gaze back up to Tia's, "I spent two years in Lompoc...."  
  
He didn't give Tia a chance to reply to that, just helped her down off the sink counter and offered her a warm smile, "What do you want to do know, Princess?" He asked as they walked out of the bathroom, but instead of following Tia towards the stairs, he followed her down the hallway toward his room. "Princess?"  
  
"I want to snoop," she laughed lightly, but it was forced. She wanted to moved her mind to happier thoughts, but all she could think about was the story she'd told Dominic, the way he made her feel, the compassion she felt for him when he told her briefly about his past, it was making her crazy. It was too much for her to try and work out. She'd been strong for so long, she'd been hard, cold-hearted, and emotionless.  
  
She walked into his room and memorized it in a glance-- the bed was parallel to the window, bumped up right next to the wall, and two dressers. One dresser was tall, had six drawers and was on the same wall as the door, the other only had four drawers, but there was a mirror on top. Tia supposed men had to look at themselves too. The closet was by the mirrored dresser. The other wall didn't have anything on it. There were only two pictures in the room, and both were on the tall dresser: one was of Mia and Dominic, the other was of a man, she supposed it was his dad, with a black Charger. The room in general was a typical man room: off-white walls, grayish-blue carpet. The only difference was this one was clean.  
  
Tia's mind wandered to darker thoughts; she would've liked to have a room like this one. The only room she'd ever had was the walk-in closet in Aidan's bedroom. She slept on a cot, and had a small toy chest for her clothes-- she certainly didn't have any toys to go in it. That was all there was room for. Yes, she would've loved to have a room like Dominic's.  
  
"Tia?" Dominic's face showed concern, Tianna had been silent for nearly three minutes, and he'd seen the sadness, that was in her eyes when she came out of the bathroom, disappear as she entered his room, then after a brief interlude, come back again full force. "What's wrong, Princess?"  
  
"It's my turn to ask the question...," Tianna replied softly, with a forced hint of humor.  
  
"Ask it, anything you want."  
  
She looked up at him and her eyes showed the sign of tears she fought to keep back, "If I were to break, into a million pieces, just shatter on the spot, would you hold me until the wind came to blow the ashes of my existence into whatever oblivion awaits me?"  
  
Dominic was stunned. What she'd said was poetic and beautiful, all while just tearing straight through him. "I would.... Then I'd go around with my little bag of hope trying to find all your pieces and put you back together again." Dom watched as slowly one tear at a time, fell from those intense blue eyes, and her body shook almost violently at her struggle to keep them back. Then when she collapsed onto the floor, body writhing with sobs, he went down with her and pulled her into his arms. After, she angrily tried to wipe the tears away, because she was furious with the fact that she was crying. "Stop, stop," Dominic pulled her hands down, worried she'd hurt herself with as hard as she was trying to rub out those tears, "Cry, it's okay. There was no way you could have kept it in forever."  
  
Tianna's pink hair was falling from the elastic that had held it back, and there was a thin line of black trailing down her cheek; waterproof mascara wasn't tear proof. Her small, shaking hands had a death grip on Dominic's T-shirt. She felt he was the only thing keeping her grounded. Her face was buried in the crook of his neck, and the only sound that broke through her sobbing was his calming comforts. "I don't...want...to do it anymore. I can't," her sentence was broken with cries.  
  
Dominic's heart broke, and he pulled her into a strong hug. Then stood and slipped an arm under her for support. "You have to do it. You have to stay strong, but you don't have to do it alone anymore." His comment had slowed her tears and steadied her sobbing some. When she looked at him with those soul windows he continued, "I'll be with you. I wont ever leave. I'll always be there for you-- to hold you when you cry, to protect you, to keep you safe from all that might hurt you. So you listen to me, Princess, you have got to stay strong for me. Do you hear me? You stay strong, okay?"  
  
Tianna sniffed, and wiped away tears from her red cheeks. She appeared so child-like, so wounded. She wrapped her arms around Dominic's neck and rested her head on his shoulder. Then in a soft voice spoke, "I want to take a nap."  
  
Dominic chuckled, he figured that was as close as he was getting to an affirmative answer from her. "Sure thing, Princess," Dom said as he pulled back the covers to his bed, and then carefully, as if she were some fragile thing, laid her on the bed. He removed her other boot, then pulled the covers up to her shoulders, tucking her in. "How's that? Comfy?" When Tia nodded, he brushed a lock of hair from her face, and kissed her on the forehead, then turned to walk out of the room.  
  
"NO! No, no, no!" Tia cried after him, tear slipping just a little faster from her eyes, burning another trail down her cheek.  
  
Dominic was quickly back at Tianna's side, concern filling him, "What is it? What's wrong?"  
  
Tia's shaking hands grabbed onto Dominic's shirt and she looked up at him with pleading eyes, "You said you wouldn't leave...," her cracked spirit could be heard in her voice.  
  
If it could've, Dominic's heart would've broken all over again. He stayed silent for a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed and slid off his brown work boots. Dom looked into those tear-filled eyes once more, before scooting himself under the covers and propping himself up against his pillows. "I promise I'm not going anywhere," he opened his arms to the girl, "Now come here, and we'll get that nap okay?"  
  
Tia nodded, and curled up next to Dominic. Her shoulder rested in the crook of his arm, and her head against his shoulder. Her hands stayed balled up in his T-shirt, fearing at any moment he might leave her. With Dominic's arms wrapped protectively around her, it didn't take long for her to fall into sleep. The sleep however didn't stop the flow of tears.  
  
Dominic spoke softly to Tia, and to himself, as she slept. "You are going to cry yourself dry, Princess," his voice was just above a whisper. "You don't have to be strong anymore, you don't have to hide, you don't have to be afraid. I'll be strong for you, and I promise I'll protect you from the monsters you hide from, the ones that are real and the ones still in your head. I promise, unconditionally, to beat down, all that frightens you, until there is nothing else to be afraid of." Dominic snuggled down a little into the bed, careful not to move Tianna from her position, and pulled the covers better up over their bodies. "You have me now, Princess, and I will stop the world from spinning if you want me to..." 


	15. Found Out

Found Out  
  
The pounding on the door woke Dominic from an uneasy sleep, and instead of leaning over to the window to see who was actually knocking on his front door, he looked down-- Tianna was still there, and her tears had stop falling. She looked like she was sleeping soundly, almost serenely, he didn't want to wake her.  
  
"Toretto! Answer the damned door! I know you're home!"  
  
Dom slid out of Tia's grasp and hurried, quietly, down the stairs. The door was unlocked, and flung open, "What?" his gravely voice growled. He was upset about being woken up, and about having to leave Tia. He hoped she didn't wake up before he got back to her, or that she was okay if she did.  
  
"Well, that's a nice way to greet a friend," Romeo said as he let himself into the house, and looked around. "Are you feeling any better? Where's Tianna?"  
  
"Feeling-- oh, yeah. I am feeling better, or at least until you decided to come pounding on my door," Dominic joked, yet still wished that maybe Ro hadn't come. "What can I do for you?" Dom shut the door and moved to lean against a pillar at the corner of his living room.  
  
"You can give me my sister back. Tia! Time to go!" Ro yelled up the stairs figuring that was where she was considering he didn't see her anywhere downstairs.  
  
"Shut up man! She's sleeping," Dom glared he had no intention of waking Tia up before he was with her again.  
  
"Really?" Ro looked shocked, "Now there's a surprise. How long has she been asleep?"  
  
"I don't know. What time is it?"  
  
"Eleven-thirty," Ro said after checking his watch.  
  
"Well then, last time I looked at the clock was, oh, four thirty. So that makes a little over eight hours."  
  
"More than eight," This time Romeo's shock was blatantly apparent.  
  
"Yeah, she was asleep before me." A brow rose, "Why do you look so surprised? She's just sleeping."  
  
"That's exactly why I'm shock, Dominic. The longest I've ever seen Tia sleep at a time was and hour and eleven minutes. I've never sleep more than that at a time. Ever, and you're here telling me she's been asleep since four-thirty?"  
  
"Yeah. I really don't see the big deal. This morning I guess we fell asleep around six, and she didn't wake up until a little after eleven."  
  
"After eleven?"  
  
Dominic nodded, "Yes. After eleven."  
  
"So that's why she wasn't at work at ten." Ro crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at Dominic, "Sick, huh? That's bad Toretto. You even got your sister to lie for you. So what were you and my sister doing, that kept you up until six in the morning?"  
  
"Hey! We didn't do anything like that! We just played video games, and talked a little." Dominic got defensive at Romeo's insinuation that he and Tia had gotten physical with each other.  
  
"Oh yeah? Then what about today? Since you obviously weren't sick I know you were together all day. Where's she sleeping Dom?"  
  
"In my bed, but--"  
  
"You're what?!" Romeo charged up stairs in an unnecessary rage and stormed towards Dominic's room.  
  
"Wait!" Dominic ran up after him, and cut him off before he got in to wake Tia up. "I have a serious question before you, rush in there and wake her up."  
  
"Toretto! Move!"  
  
"Man, there is nothing to even work yourself up over. If you haven't noticed all my clothes are on, and hers are the same way. Now shut up and let me ask my question."  
  
"Fine," Ro appeared to still be fuming, but at least he was letting Dom talk.  
  
"What do you do when your sister cries?"  
  
"I don't know Toretto, she's your sister you should already know the answer to that. Now move."  
  
"No. Romeo I really meant your sister. What do you do when Tia cries?"  
  
"I don't know. I've never had to deal with it. She hasn't cried a tear since she was little, and I haven't seen a bit a of saline to prove other wise."  
  
Dom was silent for a moment, "Well she cried today." He wasn't breaking his promise just by mentioning that. When Ro was too stunned to say anything, Dominic continued, "She did. She cried today. We were talking about why she froze in what seemed to me to be a great deal of fear, when the black Porsche drove by. She said it was her father, and as we kept talking, she cried. She cried herself to sleep. She probably cried all of the tears in her pretty little head."  
  
"Wait. Stop. Rewind. Black Porsche?"  
  
"She said it was her dad."  
  
"Fuck! He's still looking for her!" Ro took a deep, quieting breath when Dominic motioned for him to lower his voice, "He can't find her Dominic. He'll kill her if he gets his hands on her."  
  
"Yeah I know," Dom's voice was nearly inaudible, but quickly grew with a conviction, "Don't worry. I-- we. We wont let him find her, and if by some minute chance that he does, he'll be dead before he ever touches her."  
  
Around this time Tia opened the door to Dominic's bedroom, and looked at the two men. The tell-tale signs were all there: the red and puffy eyes, the tear stained cheeks, the black of smudged mascara. "I don't want to talk about it," she said to her brother when he opened his mouth to speak. And when she lifted her arm, to smack him as she scolded him about being so loud when people were sleeping, she winced and clutched her shoulder, breath hissing between her teeth.  
  
"What happened to you, Tia?"  
  
"Didn't Mia tell you already? Bruises and a twisted ankle."  
  
Romeo blinked, "How'd you know that's what Mia told me?"  
  
"Because were hiding behind the counter, you ass. He's not really sick, I wasn't, as you put it, baby-sitting him. I over slept, which is fine because I wasn't exactly in a condition to be efficient today."  
  
"She has the scrapes and bruises that Mia mentioned. The knuckles are from punching Vince before the race. She busted her lip on the siren of a cop car, was shot in the shoulder, and the lump on the back of her head, as well as the scrape on her face, which albeit minimal, were acquired on the way down. The bumper and pavement being the attackers."  
  
"You were shot?" Romeo reached out and prodded the wound.  
  
"Ow! Don't touch it!" Tia right hand came up and smacked Ro in the face. "That hurts damnit!"  
  
Dominic chuckled. That had been a good sign at least, she was becoming her usual self again. Maybe she'd be regaining some of her broken spirit, some of her strength, and maybe acquired some faith in the process. At least, faith in him, and in her ability to survive. "You guys should probably head on home."  
  
"Yeah, go start the car Romeo, I have to get my shoes."  
  
The intimidating look had Romeo silently obeying Tia's command. He swiftly moved back down the stairs, and out the door. He hopped into that Ford Mustang and started her up. He put the top down, it was a warm night, and turned the radio up, because it was also too quiet, and he felt like being a disturbance.  
  
Tia limped back into Dominic's room and picked up her purse, it had ended up on the floor somewhere in her journey, then took the boot Dom had gotten from the bathroom, and the one from his room and crammed them into her purse. She let Dominic help her down the stairs, but turned to face him once they reached the front door. "I want to thank you, for... what you did for me today. It helped, a lot, actually."  
  
"I made you cry though. If I hadn't asked about it, you wouldn't have talked about it, and you wouldn't have cried." Dom grabbed her coat off the hanger by the door and slipped it around Tia's shoulders. His hands lingered, though, after the action was done.  
  
"It wasn't your fault Dominic. You were curious. I'm not dead, and your not dead, we're not the hypothetical cats in the saying. You got me to cry. That's a good thing. I hadn't cried since Mommy died. I tried to cry when... but he wouldn't let me. I needed to cry Dominic. What you did needed to be done. I'm grateful for that."  
  
"But--"  
  
"But nothing, Dominic. You are my angel. You promised to protect me, and keep me safe, and always be with me, and you've already started. It's like passing go and collecting two-hundred dollars kind of good. Now be an angel Dominic," Tia's hands pressed against Dom's expansive chest, "Stop worrying."  
  
"It's my job to worry, Princess." Those brown eyes traveled downward, and his thumb rubbed lightly over the bruised part of her mouth. Tia trembled and he spoke, "Can I kiss you?" he whispered.  
  
Tia was breathless the second his flesh touched her mouth, "If you promise to be careful."  
  
Dominic tilted her head upwards slightly, and leaned down, "I promise," He whispered just before his mouth touched feather light against hers.  
  
"Tia! Come on!" The horn of that Mustang blared, and Romeo shouted, "Time to go! How long does it take to get shoes?!"  
  
Tia whipped around to glare venomously out the side windows. She cursed under her breath then turned back to Dominic, "I told you he was a pain in the ass." Her fingers brushed feather light against his cheek and she offered him a smile before turning and leaving out of the house. "I'm coming you ass! What's your fucking hurry?!"  
  
Dominic leaned in the door way and waved at his friends has they left. Her smiled had made him feel like everything would be all right. It was a smile that fixed everything, a smile that made everything okay, but it was temporary. Dominic frowned slightly. Would he be able to protect her if Aidan found her? Or better asked, how would he protect her if her step- father came? "Easy," he spoke allowed as he shut the door, "I'd beat the shit out of him." 


	16. Snakeeyed Monster

Snake-eyed Monster  
  
"Miss Manny? Could you step into my office please?" The president of O'Brien and Co., leaned back in that leather chair behind his desk, and looked around his grand office. He had a bar, a closet with all his Armani suits, and his ties in it. He could live in his office if he wanted, that black leather couch was certainly big enough to sleep on, but he never did any sleeping on it. He wondered how many times he'd fucked Bambi senseless on that couch, how many time she had screamed....  
  
"You wanted to se me Mister O'Brien?" The bottle blonde secretary was dressed rather sharply today in a dark gray pin stripe dress suit. The jacket was a little too snug, and the blouse underneath it showed more cleavage than was necessary. To top it off, the skirt left almost nothing to the imagination of a man like O'Brien.  
  
"Yes, Bambi, I did. Do you have any new information on my missing daughter?"  
  
"Not much, sir, but we do have these," Bambi placed a manila folder in front of her boss, leaning over the desk enough to give the black haired man a clear view down her blouse. "They were taken at a restaurant called Romeo's. Apparently she's been working there for a while now."  
  
O'Brien flipped open the folder and thumbed through the photographs. They were certainly of Tianna, smiling and happy. She thinks she gotten away, Aidan thought. "Her hair is lighter in the pictures," he commented.  
  
"That's because it's a different color now, sir. She's dyed it pink. I've already check with the L. A. P. D. and they've come across her too." Perfectly manicured fingers twirled a bit of that blonde hair.  
  
"When?"  
  
"It was a few days ago, at a street race. She was a participant, and when the cops came to break things up she ran from them. They had her cornered in an alley, but then when a man came up she decided to be brave and climb over the cop cars. One of them took a shot at her, they said it hit her in her left shoulder."  
  
"Who's the man?"  
  
"The cops said his name was Toretto, Dominic Toretto. He owns a garage, and a little cafe and convenience store. He's also apparently, the ring leader of the street racers." Bambi moved around behind the desk, and leaned against it. "He's got an extensive record, being mostly of trivial offences: outstanding speeding tickets, theft, but the one that hurt him the most was the two years he spent in Lompoc, for nearly beating a man to death."  
  
"Now that's an interesting fact," A large hand, grabbed the woman's leg, and slid slowly upwards and under that skirt. "We have to find a way in," two fingers were so placed in Bambi on that word, and he smiled at her moan, "I can't go get her myself, she'd run just like we know she does from the cops. So be a dear and tell me you've already got it figured out."  
  
"I can't believe she'd run away from you," when those fingers were pushed deeper into her body, Bambi's mouth parted and let out a lustful groan.  
  
"I miss her terribly, Bambi. Now do we have a way in or don't we?"  
  
"Actually, Aidan...," Bambi paused for that dramatic effect, and of course to pull herself closer to him. "We do."  
  
"Wonderful!" Aidan exclaimed, and though he took his hands from between his secretary's legs, he made up for it by pulling her into his lap. "Tell me how?" He questioned, his hands roaming over the woman's plump rear.  
  
"There's a woman, she used to race, used to be in really close with Toretto. We had to offer her a lot of money, but she agreed to help get your daughter back," as she spoke Bambi was busy tugging off Aidan's jacket and tie, and undoing the buttons to his shirt. "She said she can get in. I believe her, now it's time for you to get in." She undid the fly of his slacks, and freed him from those cotton boxers.  
  
"Giving your boss orders?" Aidan laughed, and pulled Bambi up on to him, until he was deep within her. He grinned, more than happy to oblige the loose woman with what she wanted. Especially since she had done such a great job of locating his daughter. His eyes light up with a gleam that the empty-headed blonde wouldn't see. It was a look fit for the snake he was. It showed the evilness in is heart. As the woman pumped away to her hearts content, Aidan's mind wandered, just slightly, she would pay. Tianna would pay for thinking she could run from him. He'd get her back, and he'd teach her the lessons that she so needed to learn. Then he'd reap all the pleasure, that even his secretary could not give, from the bitch's broken body. He'd revel in every one of her screams, and should she ever stop screaming, well he had ways of fixing that. Lots of, creative, ways to make her scream. 


	17. Proposal of the Marriage Variety

Proposal of the Marriage Variety  
  
Dominic waltzed into Romeo's with a mission-- talk to Tia. He was led to his seat, a booth, by a nervous blonde. Dom figured it was her first day. He saw Tia right away, couldn't miss her, pink hair was kind of obvious, he frowned slightly though. She'd braided her hair, and he liked the way it looked loose better. She was with some customers so he watched instead of interrupting.  
  
"Two house specials, an order of mozzarella sticks, one Sprite, and one Dr. Pepper? The specials also come with salad a bread."  
  
"Oh really? Where's it say that?"  
  
"Right here, sir," Tianna pointed to the small print on the house specials menu. She offered a genuine smile and prepared to scribble another note, "Now what kind of dressing would you like with those?"  
  
"The sun-dried tomato vinaigrette, please, for both salads."  
  
"Excellent choice. I'll be right back with your order."  
  
Tia left the pair at table six, and stopped momentarily at table nine for another customer, "Are you ready for your check Magnus?"  
  
"I am, darling."  
  
"I'll bring that right out for you." She walked passed Dominic's table, and didn't notice right away that it was him.  
  
"How you doin' today, hon?"  
  
Dominic looked up and was severely disappointed when he realized he wasn't seated at one of Tia's tables, but at this girl, Mindy's, table. He looked from her to Tia, who had stopped and turned back around. She smiled at him and he turned up the brunette staring at him. "I'm great now, thanks."  
  
The girl smiled, thinking that he meant he was great now that she was there, but before she could ask him for his order, she was distracted by a hand placed firmly on her shoulder.  
  
"Pick another table Mindy, I've got this one."  
  
"But, Tia...," The girl whined and cast a not-so-inconspicuous glance over Dom's body.  
  
Tianna crossed her arms over her breasts, which Dom couldn't help but notice, weren't overly large nor were they too small, but had a delightful little curve to them. Tia straightened, making her stand nearly a foot over the smaller woman, and gave her a look that even Dominic found intimidating. "Mindy, I'll take care of this table."  
  
Mindy huffed angrily, but didn't argue further, only stalked away to another table causing a slight smirk to come to Tia's lips. After watching the girl go Tia leaned on the edge of Dominic's table, "How are you doing, Tianna?"  
  
"I'm doing just peachy now, thanks." She gave him a flirty smile with that comment.  
  
"So I take it you're the dominating waitress around here?"  
  
"It helps to be the boss's little sister, but even if I weren't, yeah, I'm the top dog. What can I get for you today Dom?"  
  
"Just a Corona."  
  
"Sure thing, be right back." Tia then sauntered off and vanished into the kitchen.  
  
When she emerged she had a try of food and drinks. She stopped by table six to deliver the son and mother pair their order, "It's amazing, the cook was ahead of me, so instead of just cheese sticks, you get your whole order. I'm getting ready to get off, but Mindy will be by with your check in a little while." After saying a quick good-bye, she set Dominic's beer on his table on her way to table nine. She set the tray down on the table in front of Dominic's, and hand the check to the elderly man at number nine. "Here you go, Magnus."  
  
"Thanks, Doll," when Tia turned to walk away, Magnus reached and grabbed her arm. When he pulled her back to his table, he gave her a single rose, "Marry me, Tia? I'll take you to Hawaii for our honey moon."  
  
Dom's brows both rose in shock. Then in amusement at Tia laughed and kissed the shiny part of the mans head. He couldn't help after that to listen in on the conversation after that.  
  
"So that's a yes?" Magnus looked hopeful.  
  
"No," Tia shook her head in reply, "I don't like Hawaii. There too many spiders there for my liking. You know, the really, big ones. Yick." She shivered in disgust for effect.  
  
"Oh well then," The man stood and placed his felt fedora on his head, "I'll see you next Monday, Doll."  
  
"Bye, Magnus." Tia then picked up the tray she'd left on the table in front of Dom's and moved to sit by the window. She set the plate of pasta on the table, and removed her apron. She pocketed the tips, but before she could sit she turned when Dom called to her.  
  
"Hey, Princess. Come sit down. I could use the company."  
  
"Can't." Tia shook her head no, and moved to sit again.  
  
"Why not?" Dominic was crushed, "Got other things to do."  
  
"Nope. Table seven, that's you're table, is cursed."  
  
"Cursed."  
  
"Yes, cursed. At least for me it is. Every time I wait, or stay for prolonged periods at, that table, something bad happens."  
  
"I'll protect you, Princess, I promise," Dominic said motioning for Tia to sit across from him.  
  
Tianna rolled her eyes, grabbed her plate, then moved to Dom's table. Almost immediately after sitting she blew out the candle. "Fine, I'll stay, but if something bad happens, it's all your fault."  
  
"I swear, I'll take full responsibility." Taking a sip of his beer, Dominic moved on, "What are you doing Saturday?"  
  
"Don't know yet. All I know about the future is that tomorrow there's going to be race, and next Monday Magnus is going to ask me to marry him again." Tia took a bite of her pasta.  
  
"Again? How do you know?"  
  
"How do I know?" Tianna laughed, "because he's only been asking me every Monday for the last three months."  
  
Dominic laughed and took a sip of his beer, but it was obvious there was something still on his mind. When he didn't ask the question lingering on his tongue, Tia kicked him under the table. "Hey!"  
  
"What's on your mind, Toretto? What's going on Saturday?"  
  
"I was going to ask you to dinner?"  
  
"Was? So you're not now?" Tia took a sip of his beer.  
  
"Well," the smile on Tia's mouth offered him courage, "would you like to go to dinner with me?"  
  
"Dinner?"  
  
"Yes." Dominic took Tia's fork, and tried her pasta, it was exceptional.  
  
"Like a date?" Tia grinned broadly.  
  
Dominic chuckled, "Yeah, like a date."  
  
Tia went all bright-eyed and surprised, "Wow. I've never been on a date before."  
  
Dom's jaw dropped, "Never?"  
  
"Never-ever," Tia shook her head and took her fork back.  
  
"Why not, Princess?"  
  
"My childhood never allowed it."  
  
"Oh..." Dominic grew broodingly silent, but it lasted for just a minute until he laughed at Tia's next comment.  
  
"You really want to go on a date with me?" When Dominic just laughed more, Tia continued, "Why?"  
  
Dominic hadn't expected that question, but tried to answer it anyway, "Well, your are incredibly gorgeous, you're fun, and," to steal her earlier comments to him, "there's just something about you."  
  
Tianna finished the last of her pasta then looked back up at Dominic, "It's because I like cars isn't it?"  
  
"That's a plus, but no, that's not the main reason."  
  
"Well it's not because I'm pretty, so, hmm...is it my outrageously pink hair?"  
  
Dominic laughed, "You really don't know how beautiful you are, do you?"  
  
Tianna's expression was blank, and entirely innocent. She just shook her head slowly in a no reply. She didn't think she was beautiful at all. She couldn't see where there was any reason to.  
  
Dom shook his head grinning slightly, then suddenly turned a serious gaze to the woman. "Listen to me, Princess, anything that piss-poor excuse of a man said to you, is wrong. Anything he ever did to you, doesn't make you any less beautiful. The sheer fact that you survived it makes you that much more extraordinary." He reached up and brushed his fingers along her jaw, turning her head back towards him when she looked away. "You are absolutely, positively, with out a doubt," he grinned and pulled her forward a little, and leaned across the table until they were practically nose to nose, "beautiful. I don't think I can get enough of you."  
  
"Yeah?" Tia's voice was quiet, kind of breathy, and that crystal blue gaze dropped to the mouth inches from hers.  
  
"Yeah," Dom pulled just a little more on her chin, tilting her head ever-so-slightly upward, and brushed his thumb across her mouth. He leaned in to kiss her, but fate would have it they were to be interrupted.  
  
"If you even think about continuing on like that, Romeo will so beat your ass into the ground." The voice was Leon's but Vince and Jesse were standing with him. The two that hadn't spoken were trying not to laugh.  
  
Dominic growled slightly in frustration, and Tia huffed angrily and let her head fall forward, with her head resting against the cool tabletop. Silently she counted on her fingers-- four. Four times she'd been given the opportunity to kiss this man, and all the times fate had been so cruel as to refuse the affection.  
  
"Seriously, man. He's the over-protective brother type. He'd kick you ass for making moves on his sister."  
  
"What the hell are you going on about, no he wouldn't. He's been a friend since, well, a long damn time." He looked over to the woman when she snickered. He could probably take that as a yes, Ro would actually beat him.  
  
"Think about it Dom, what would you do if some big, intimidating street-racer type, tried to make moves on Mia?" Jesse asked.  
  
"All right fine. Good point."  
  
"So the date's off then?" Vince asked, but he seemed absent, his eyes had focused on a small man in a business suit a few tables away. He had a camera on his table, the lens pointed directly at Tia and Dominic.  
  
"Fuck no. Romeo's just not going to find out about it." Dominic said, turning to see what Vince was looking at. He was immediately suspicious. "Hey, Tia? What do these cooperate spies usually look like?"  
  
"They typically aren't very big, they look just like business men, only greasy sleazy types. Why?"  
  
"How long has that guy been coming in here?" He pointed to the man with the camera. The other man was visibly unnerved at having all these people staring at him.  
  
"Hmm? Which one?" She sat up and leaned on the table to peer at the business man. "Him? Oh, hmm...two and half, maybe three weeks. Why? You don't think...Oh shit..." Tia slid back down in her seat, sliding a good portion of the way under the table, so that she could only look up over the edge. "Did he see me?" Leon sat down beside Tia, and when Dominic stood Jesse sat across from her.  
  
"Probably," Dominic said standing and moving over to the guy, Vince went with him. "Hi, how's it going?"  
  
"F-fine," the guy was sleazy. Looked like a rat, pointed nose and ears and everything.  
  
"Great, can we see you're camera?" Vince picked up the camera as Dominic spoke, and examined it quickly.  
  
"Really I'd like you to put that down. No! Don't open-- that." But the man's plea was too late as Vince had already popped open the back and pulled all the film out of it.  
  
"Give me your wallet man." Dominic demanded with an out stretched hand. The man, was both pissed and terrified by the intimidating men at the same time. Silently though he handed over the wallet. Dominic began sifting through it's contents and finally came upon what he needed-- proof. "This is an O'Brien Company business card?" He held it up. The man nodded. "O'Brien your boss?" Again the man nodded. "Your after Tia aren't you?"  
  
When he didn't answer Vince grabbed the man by his lapels, "Answer!"  
  
"Yes! No! He is! I'm just supposed to find her!" Vince through the man back against his seat.  
  
"Well you tell you're boss, that he wont be getting his hands on Tia, and that if he keeps trying, I'll shoot him in the head." Dominic tore up the business card, and threw the pieces over the man, "Have a nice day now." Turning on his heel he moved back to the table where Tia was white. "It's okay, Princess. He doesn't have anymore pictures."  
  
"What's going on?" Vince asked, he didn't have a clue what was taking place, just that something was wrong, and he felt obligated to help protect Tia. If Dominic thought she was worth protecting she probably was, even if Vince himself, didn't know what they were protecting her from.  
  
"Long story, I don't want to talk about it, but thank you. Both of you." She watched has the man ran out of the restaurant. She sighed, "However, that sleaze-ball is running off to his boss with his tail between his legs. He knows where I am Dominic...."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I told you, you didn't have to remember? I did, now I'm telling you all you have to do is worry about the race tomorrow night when I plan on handing your ass to you, and what you'll be wearing Saturday night when I pick you up at eight for dinner."  
  
"Nine." Tianna haggled.  
  
"Eight-thirty."  
  
"Fine. Eight-thirty then." She smiled, almost shyly, a faint blush coming to her cheeks. Then she pointed aggressively at Toretto, "But in order to hand me my ass you'd have to have it, and honey, you don't have it yet. I won the last one remember? What makes you think you'll win this time?" The other guys, and Tia laughed, when Dominic didn't have an answer. Soon though, he was laughing right along with the rest of them. 


	18. Starting Fires

Starting Fires  
  
It was Tuesday evening and Tianna was getting ready for the race that evening. Well, at least she was trying to anyway. Romeo's bed, which had been Tia's bed for the past months, was scattered all over with various articles of clothing. All were potential outfits for the race that night, and Tia couldn't decide what to wear.  
  
"Hey Tia!" Romeo called out from the kitchen, "Are you decent?"  
  
"Yes," well assuming decent meant covered then she wasn't lying. She had the towel from her shower still wrapped around her, and her damp hair was twisted up with a claw hair clip.  
  
Romeo walked in and immediately turned to face another direction, "Damn it Tianna, I thought you were decent."  
  
"What are you so worried about, compared to being naked this is decent," Tia said has she walked over to her brother. "What's up?"  
  
"Phone for you," Ro said holding the cordless phone out to the scantily clad woman.  
  
"Neat, who is it?" She asked taking the phone.  
  
In a disdainful tone Romeo answered with one word, "Her."  
  
"Oh get over it boy, you were planning on breaking up with her, she just got to it first." She shooed her brother back into the kitchen and as she talked on the phone moved back over to the bed to begin again the task of picking out an outfit. "Hey Mystic. How's it going?" She laughed, "Yeah I think you bruised his ego, or something, when you broke up with him."  
  
"She did not!"  
  
"She did too! Now stop spying and go get my car from Harry's!" Tia yelled at her brother but didn't speak again until she heard the door shutting and Romeo's mustang starting on the street below, "Sorry about that. So you're single again? Can't find a guy or not looking?" Tia pulled all the clothes that weren't blue or black out of the piles and put them away. Narrowing the field was always a good way to more quickly find a solution. "Do I have a guy yet?" Tia laughed again, "What would I do with a guy if I had one? Mystic! I can't do that! That's naughty!" Well there was an idea. Of the shirts left, there was a black one strap shirt with 'naughty' written above that Stitch alien from the movie. The letters and the alien were both blue. "This'll work....hmm? Oh sorry, I was talking to myself that time. I've been trying to figure out what to wear, for like an hour now. What do you mean that's proof I have a guy?" She folded up the other shirt's and put them away.  
  
That mouth pouted, she may have narrowed it down to one shirt, but she still had to figure out what to wear with that shirt. "Hey, why don't you stop harassing me and help me figure out what to wear tonight? The one you made me, with that cute alien...yeah that one. A skirt? Well I hadn't thought of that. Let me see if I have any." Tianna put the pants and shorts she'd pulled out away and rummaged through the closet to find skirts. "Ha! I do have a skirt. I have three actually. One is long and spins, one is long and fitted, but has two really high slits up the front, and the other one is a short angled cut. From the left side down. Um, it starts high up on my thigh to end just above my right knee." Tia hung the long skirts back up and walked back over to the bed, "So the short one with the alien shirt and blue fish nets? I don't have blue fish nets." Tia frowned, "You did? Oh! Sorry you did, I remember now. Ro tried to throw them away but I kept them. You're talking about the thigh high ones, right?"  
  
"Great! Thanks for the help Mystic...Oh! Wait do you know where the race is tonight?" A confused look graced Tianna's features, "Why are they holding it in the desert? To avoid the heat the cops are putting on.... Man do I understand that. All right! Well, then, I'll see you tonight. Later."  
  
"What is that? Is that my car?" Tia stood in shock before the Honda Civic that Romeo had parked in front of the building. It was the same make as her car, the same plates, but the paint job was new, and the decals were different. "Is that supposed to be me?" She was referring to the pink haired anime-like girl on the side of her car.  
  
"I think the resemblance is remarkable actually. It's amazing what they can print out in vinyl. All those little bits that look like they're flying out of your outstretched arm, the ones near the hood of the car, those are pieces of candy. I think it looks cooler than before actually. I mean, I really like it." Romeo shrugged, "Whatever, get in, and let's go."  
  
When Tia climbed into the driver's seat of the car, she had to scoot it forward some so she could reach the pedals, men always messed with things when they were in someone else's car. The side mirrors were good, but when she looked up into the rear view mirror she noticed it was focused on the back seat. More specifically, it was focused on a bouquet of flowers in the back seat. Tia fixed the mirror, then quickly whirled around to look at the flowers. There were three pink roses and three pink daisies, but there were six white daisies. Tianna grinned and snatched the little note from the paper the flowers were wrapped up in. "Yay!" Tia giggled softly, the flowers were from Dominic. His note had said he hoped she liked the new look of the car, and that he'd thought about painting the whole thing pink, but didn't know what she would think so just repainted it black, and had decals to it instead of airbrushing it. That way, if she didn't like it she could take it off. He didn't say anything about the flowers. "How cute."  
  
"Are we going or not, Tia?" Ro asked from the open window of his car.  
  
"I'm sorry. All right," she turned around and started her car, "we can go now." She let him lead the way into the night. Soon, they'd be at the desert, where she'd get to see Dominic, and get to win more of his money. Tia was giddy with excitement, she could hardly wait.  
  
Racers were already gathering at the seclude section of road in the desert, music was blaring from people showing off the systems in their cars, the "tag-along-skanks" as Tia liked to refer to most of the women who were there. They were the women who came to watch, and auction themselves off as prizes to which ever man had the hottest, or fastest car. They didn't race, they just got in the way. Tia laid down the horn, to move a group of them in the way of her parking her car by her friend Mystic's Skyline. "Get out of the way you skanks!" Soon she turned her car off and climbed out of the car.  
  
"You never play nice do you?" Mystic said, combing her fingers through shoulder length, chocolate brown hair, with bluish-purple streaks.  
  
"Of course not," Tia straightened one of her blue fish-nets, "How do you like the new paint job?"  
  
"I love it. The purple ghost flames, and the kitty with the pointy hat like the one the mouse wore in Fantasia. You did an excellent job, I should have paid you more." Mystic was referring to the paint job Tia had done on her Skyline, a few weeks back.  
  
Tianna laughed, "Well actually I meant on my car, but I'm glad you like yours."  
  
The tall woman walked around Tia's Civic inspecting the new job, the chains that hung from her belt, and her many bracelets jingling as she walked. Once she made it back to Tia, she pointed at the girl on the side of the car, "Is that supposed to be you?"  
  
"I'm told the resemblance is striking."  
  
"It is, I just wanted to make sure you know. I've got a gift for you, to go with that outfit." Mystic opened the door to her back seat and motioned for Tia to sit on the purple, crushed velvet upholstery of the seats. Then she opened the trunk and handed Tia a pair of boots. "I found them at an Army surplus store, so they're like, real combat boots. The fat blue laces didn't come with them of course."  
  
Tia tugged off her pink-laced boots, and tossed them through her open car window. Then pulled on the ones from Mystic and set to work on tying the laces. "These are great, the blue laces a perfect match for these nets too."  
  
"I know, those fish nets used to be mine remember?"  
  
"I know. Back when you dated, Romeo." Tia stood, and jumped up and down a bit, testing her new boots out. "I like them. You could really hurt somebody, all while looking cute doing it."  
  
Romeo walked over about this time to speak to Tia, but not wanting to be rude he nodded to Mystic, "How are you doing, girl?"  
  
"I'm doing good. Is your ego all better yet?"  
  
Romeo glared, but before he could spew forth a nasty comment, Tianna spoke, "What's going on tonight Romeo?"  
  
"It will all start soon. Dominic and his team are driving up now. Just thought I'd let you know. Seeing how you need to thank him for saving your ass, and fixing you car up like he did." With his few cents in, Ro waved bye to them both and went to talk with the other two racers, Hector and Edwin, who were supposed to be racing that night also.  
  
"Toretto did that!?" Mystic grinned and pointed to Tia's car. When her friend nodded, she continued, "Is he the one that put the flowers in the back seat too?" Again her pink haired friend nodded, "That's it then, isn't it?"  
  
"What's it?"  
  
"He's the new man in your life. Not a bad choice, Grade A meat that one. Just yummy. His friend Leon isn't too bad to look at either." The girls shared some laughter over the comment, and both turned to look when the roar of a group of engines pulled in and parked in the center for all to admire. The DT team had arrived.  
  
Dominic stepped out of his RX-7, clad in a grey Dickies, button down T-shirt, and kackie pants, over brown work boots. He ran a hand over his clean shaven head, and shut his car door. He looked back at his team. Leon with his yellow Skyline, and Vince with his blue Maxima were parked diagonally behind him, and Jesse with his white Jetta was parked behind them but centered with Dom's car. His mind drifted ever so slightly to the thought that it had once been a v formation with another's fuschia car, but there was no time to be wasted lingering on the past.  
  
The team was greeted by numerous people, and four amatuers lined up for the first race of the evening. They knew that once Toretto arrived everything could get started. They pulled up to the red line, their engines were revving, and for the moment at least, all eyes were on them. Except for one black-eyed gaze. That one was on Tia. When the word go was shouted though, the gaze was dragged to watch the new kids race. None of them had NOS, none of them had more than two hundred dollars to bet, but one of them, had a red mazda, he won. He was probably one of Torettos worshipers.  
  
The crowd cheered when the race was over but by this point, Vince was off looking at some of the cars, and checking out some of the ladies. Romeo had decided to participat in the next race and was pulling up to the red line. Leon was talking to Dominic, and Mystic was shoving Tia off in the mens direction. Leather clad feet carried Tia soundlessy over to the pair, and she stood hip cocked to one side, hand rest upon the curve. Her head tilted a bit, and with another hand she pushed a strand of pink hair from her face, "Hey Leon. My friend Mystic over there is having a problem with her Skyline, do you think you could check it out for her?"  
  
Leon turned to look at the tall, woman leaning against her car. She was dressed in the typical intimidating punk fashion, but Leon liked that in women. "Skyline? Sure I'll check it out. Talk to you guys a little later," and off went Leon jogging over to see what the problem was.  
  
"There really a problem with the girl's car, Princess?" Dom's eyes slid slowly down Tia's form, the only thing he didn't approve of was her hair being pulled up into a high pony tail, but at least she had bits of it pulled free in a way that remind his of a broken spider web.  
  
"Sure there is," Tia grinned taking a couple steps closer to Dominic and placing a hand on his chest, and leaning up as if to whisper some great secret in his ear, "the back seat is empty." 


	19. Putting out old Flames

Putting out old Flames  
  
"Thank you for the flowers," Tia said sweetly, as she wrapped her arms around Dominic's neck, "and the new prettiness on my car. You didn't look under the hood did you?"  
  
"You're welcome, and no I didn't," Dominic grinned lightly, other girls had begun to gather around his car and him. He could hear them whispering and clamoring about the attention he was giving to Tia. He didn't care, his hands slid down to her waist, and one went a little father to tug at the shortest part of the skirt she wore, "You know, for someone who doesn't know she's beautiful, you certainly know how to accent your charms. Personally I think I'd rather peek under this, than the hood of your car."  
  
Tianna laughed and scrunched her nose up childishly, "You want to know what's under my skirt Toretto?" She waited for him to nod before she continued, "Well I'll tell you, pair of Care Bear panties, white ones with blue stripes."  
  
"There a Care Bear on the back?"  
  
"He's on the front actually. Grumpy Bear. He's one of the blue ones."  
  
"Now, I like blue..." He grinned letting his hand come up to rest again on her hip.  
  
"I know you do."  
  
A feminine, yet not very attractive, growl was issued forth before a small, hard looking woman walked forth and spoke, "Why don't you skanks pack it up before I leave tread marks on your face?" The woman's hair was pulled back into a low pony tail, and she was clad in a short leather skirt, and white tank top over a red bra. All the girls left, grumbling and glaring meanly at the new woman, except for one. Tia hadn't gone anywhere. "That means you too, rosada."  
  
Vince and Jesse, who had been flirting mercilessly with a group of girls had glanced over to see the new woman standing in front of Dominic and Tia, and they both abandoned the women to find Leon. They pushed through the crowds quickly, and when they found him he had his hands on a woman's rear, and his mouth teasing at her lip ring.  
  
"Dude, Leon, you will not believe who just showed up."  
  
Leon growled a bit and pulled away from Mystic, "Vince man this better be good, or I'm going to kick your ass."  
  
"Well I wouldn't say good exactly, as worth knowing." Then he added absently, "Hey Mystic."  
  
"Hey V," Mystic said wrapping her arms around Leon's waist and looking curiously at the two men who had so rudely interrupted. "Who's shown up."  
  
Leon was the one who answered, having glanced over toward Dominic and seen the newest arrival, "Oh shit... It's Letty."  
  
"Back off, or your face is going to match your little get up, hoe." Letty stepped closer to Tia eyes narrowed, body tensed and ready to attack. "This man belongs to me."  
  
"Yeah a long time ago, Letty. I'm not yours anymore." Dominic noticed Tianna's body tensed and she had begun to step away from him, but he kept a hand at her waist so she wouldn't stray too far.  
  
"Yeah? Guess you made sure of that didn't you?" Letty stared angrily for a long moment at Dominic until the Vince, Jesse and Leon showed up and stood around Dominic and Tianna, "Lookie here. The old team's back together again."  
  
Tianna was remaining silent, but those crystal eyes were shooting daggers at this new woman. Dominic was not hers, Tia didn't want to believe that he had ever, at any time handed his heart over to this woman. He was hers now. He was the prince she'd made up a long time ago during her stays in the attic. He was rescuing her, and he was her angel watching over. Tia was letting anyone try and take him away.  
  
Letty's head canted to the side, and she looked directly at Tianna, before suddenly smacking her in the face, "Wipe that nasty look off your face before you get the beating of your life."  
  
The team went silent as Tia's head was smacked to the side, and the stinging hand print began to show. Dominic's hand went up to graze his fingers lightly over the reddened flesh. Tianna's hand grabbed his and pulled Dominic's down as she slowly turned her gaze back to Letty. "The beating of my life? You expect me to believe that you're even remotely capable of that, when you just bitch slapped me like the street corner whore, you are?" Dominic looked up and met the gazes of his team mates. Simultaneously they all took a couple steps back for the impending cat fight that was about to go on.  
  
"You, skank!" Letty lunged at Tia, scratching five red trails along her neck, and shoving her to the ground. As soon as she'd knocked the pink haired woman down she pinned her to the ground, and smacked her in the face again. The crowd was cheering on this match. Everyone loves to watch a good girl fight.  
  
"Oh for god's sake," Tia's hand balled into a fist and slammed into the side of Letty's face, knocking the girls body off of her own. She stood immediately, and kicked the woman hard in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. "You threaten me with the beating of my life, and you fight like a high school girl. Pathetic." That should've been the end of it, and the onlookers thought it was, many of them booing because they wanted more.  
  
Letty wasn't finished though, she stood when Tia turned her back, ran up behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck and one around her shoulder, "I'm not done with you yet, trash."  
  
"Yes," Tia's hand shot up and smacked Letty hard in the nose, "you," then her foot slammed down onto the other woman's, "are!" followed by an elbow connecting hard into her attackers abdomen. "Now get the fuck off of me!" She growled out while one hand grabbed a fist full of the woman's black hair and the other clutching the woman's arm. Tianna kicked her feet off the ground then threw all of her weight forward, pulling Letty's body over hers and throwing her to the ground. As soon as she regained her footing, a booted foot pressed Letty's face into the dirt, refusing her the ability to move. "I learned that from Miss Congeniality. Now why don't you stop fighting, little girl, and put your money where your mouth is. You think you can beat me? Then you get thirty-five large in your hand and you meet me at the red line."  
  
Dominic was stunned. He couldn't believe Letty was back. He couldn't believe Tianna knocked her overgrown ego down a few notches in just a matter of minutes. He really couldn't believe that they were about to race for thirty-five-thousand dollars. Well Tia was racing for the money, Letty was racing for Tia's car. "You sure about this, Princess?"  
  
"So sure, in fact, that I'm going to bet you a brand new set of tires that I can do it with out NOS." Tia poked Dom in the chest for a bit of added emphasis, then wiped some dust from her skirt.  
  
"Now Tia, being confident is one thing. Being arrogant is something totally different. Romeo was standing near by. He'd finished his race just in time to see his sister challenge Dominic's former lover.  
  
"Damn it Romeo! Start acting like a brother and have a little faith in me." Tia smacked Romeo hard in the shoulder, "I beat Dominic didn't I?"  
  
"Yeah, but Princess you used NOS."  
  
Blue eyes narrowed venomously at Toretto and her brother, "I can do this. I will win this with out NOS. I'm not arrogant. I have faith in myself, and in my abilities. Someone has to."  
  
"I have faith in you," Dominic said quietly, his fingers lightly touching the line of her jaw. He didn't like the look he'd gotten and was quickly acting to fix it.  
  
"Does that meant you accept my bet?" Tia offered Dominic a sly little smile, and looked up at him impishly.  
  
"If you win you get a new set of tires. Fine. But, what do I get if you don't win?" Tia whispered something in his ear and he grinned broadly then laughed, "Oh really? Well then I accept."  
  
"Great!" Tia was grinning in a way that made her shirt seem to be true.  
  
"Are we going to race or what, girlie?" Letty spoke up when she began to feel nauseated at the blatant and disgusting display of flirting her ex and the girl were showing.  
  
"You must be in a hurry to lose your money," Mystic was standing behind Leon, with her hands tucked into his front pockets. She'd been listening and watching passively, but couldn't resist the taunting comment.  
  
"She's going to need more than that Civic, if she wants to win," Letty said as Tia climbed into her car.  
  
Tia smirked, "Oh I've got something for you," then drove up to the red line.  
  
All the racers had crowded around, this was turning out to be the main event of the evening. First the cat fight, then the challenge, now the race. Letty was preparing, turning the NOS valves, so that she would get a strong spray of the gas. Tia was just laid back. She'd just flipped her CD track to an upbeat Techno song, that sounded like it should be the background music for a Japanimation, and was, when Hector motioned to the two female driver's, absently twirling a daisy in her fingers.  
  
Dom watched Tia with an unwavering stare. When Hector raised his hands above his head, signaling the racers to get ready, Dominic knew why Tia had bet him new tires if she won. He'd listened to the sound of her engine, she may have had her foot pressed down on to the brake, but she also had her car, in fourth gear when Hector's hands dropped. Tia's tires spun against the road, burning off the traction, in a smoky mess. It had given Letty a millisecond of a lead, but soon she was right up next to the maroon Nissan. His body tensed when he heard her car shift into fifth gear, and she moved ahead of Letty.  
  
Dominic thought for sure, that Tia was going to lose her car, when Letty pressed the little red button, on her steering wheel. The spray of NOS into the Nissan's engine sent it speeding fast ahead of the Civic. Just like Dom was in tune with all of Tia's emotions and moods, he was in tune with the roar of her engine. So he was shocked when she'd put the car in sixth gear and pressed hard down on the gas. More shocked when the car didn't tear off the track from all the torque. Toretto was floored completely though, when the Civic slipped over the red line, just inches ahead of Letty's vehicle. "I can't believe it. She did it. She really did it."  
  
Tianna climbed out of the drivers side of her car when she got back to the starting line. "Dominic!" She practically skipped up to the bouncer- built man, and threw her arms around his neck. She was grinning and laughing, "I told you! I told you I'd do it!"  
  
"Yes, yes you did. You won, both the race, and our little side bet."  
  
"You owe me tires," she smiled up at Dominic victoriously, then turned to glared mildly at her surrogate brother, "you owe me an apology."  
  
"I'm sorry. Tia, I promise, I will start having more faith in you. I guess I just needed to see true proof of you skills."  
  
"Same here," Letty walked up she was smiling warmly at Tia, "Sorry about the fight and all, I guess I just needed to see if you were worthy of the guy here. I hope we can wipe the slate clean and start all over again..." she glanced around at her former team mates, "all of us."  
  
"Apology accepted, but you, girlie, owe me thirty-five big ones." Tia placed a hand on her hip and held the other one palm up toward Letty. Once the cash was in hand, she stuffed it in her glove box.  
  
"Your not going to count it?" Letty asked.  
  
"You saying that I should count it? Are you trying to tell me it's not all there?"  
  
"No, nothing like that."  
  
"Good, because it wouldn't be real intelligent to cheat me out of my money." Tia looked angrily upon Letty. Despite the fact that the woman had apologized she still felt something was wrong. It's like a puzzle piece that just didn't fit, not matter how hard you tried to get it to work. Tia shrugged it off. Maybe it was just her suspicious nature creeping up on her. Tianna yawned, "God, the adrenaline buzz died awful fast. I'm beat, I want to go home now." She tugged on her brother's shirt, and he nodded affirmatively. Then Tia turned to look up at Dominic, "Eight-thirty Saturday?"  
  
"Eight-thirty," Dom said with a confirming smile.  
  
Tia squealed lightly, and giggled, "I'm so excited, Yay! See you then Toretto." After checking to make sure she knew what time Dominic was picking her up on Saturday, she climbed back into her car, and raced home after Romeo, who was already on his way back to the privacy of his apartment. 


	20. At the Roman Palace

At The Roman Palace  
  
"Ow! Stop it! Just leave it alone!" Tianna pulled her hair out of Mia's hands, and her friend's damnable weapon of choice for the evening-- a curling iron. Those blue eyes glared coldly, and Tia, clad only in black thigh-high panty hose, and a lace slip, was backing away slowly from her friend.  
  
"Now Tia, if you would just hold still long enough for me to curl your hair you wouldn't get burned. Now come here, sit down, and be still!" Mia pointed to chair she'd brought up to her room so she could do Tia's hair and make-up.  
  
"I swear if you weren't his sister," Tia began.  
  
"Then you wouldn't even be in this situation, and you probably wouldn't be going on a date. Now you are going to look beautiful for him. You two haven't seen each other for a week so it's going to be extra spectacular. Sit down." Once Tia, reluctantly, sat in the chair in front of Mia, the woman once again began to curls the colored tresses. "Hold still," Mia said when Tia started to squirm, "I've only got a few more curls to do, then we'll twist it up and do your make-up."  
  
Tianna pouted. She thought this mess was taking a ridiculously long amount of time to be done. The week had gone by dreadfully slow. First Romeo wouldn't let her work at the restaurant because of O'Brien's thug having shown up, which, sure, Tia could understand, but how was she supposed to keep busy? Second, was the day and a half she worked at Harry's. She'd hoped to run into Dominic, but he never showed up. After realizing that she'd rather be putting cars together, than selling parts for them, Tia decided to spend some time at the market with Mia. Now making sandwiches wasn't exactly right up her alley, but Dominic owned the little cafe, surely she would see him there, right? Wrong. She saw Brian, and Vince, and Leon, and Jesse... but no Dominic. The other guys said he'd been at the garage all week, working on stop on some big project that she wasn't supposed to know about. She wondered if maybe it was a present for her, if it wasn't she figured Dom would have told her about it. She figured it was Saturday, and when he picked her up, she'd found out everything, and they'd go to dinner and all would be peachy. Then Mia says Tia has to get all 'done up' with make up and curls and dresses, and shoes she can't walk in.  
  
"All done," Mia said, placing the last few bobby pins into Tia's thick hair. After it had been curled she'd twisted it into a French twist only, instead of tucking the ends in, she let them hang loose, curling to Tia's shoulders. "Now for the make up. Do you want to focus on the mouth or the eyes?"  
  
A brow arched sharply, and Tianna looked at Mia as if she'd just spoken some alien language, "What?" Then she shook her head, "I don't care. I'm putting my face in your hands. Personally I think I look fine, but your the girl here, you have fun."  
  
Mia frowned, vaguely insulted, but mostly wanting to inform Tia that she was a girl to, and should be able to do her own make-up and hair and just sit and be cooperative, because that's how things works. You got dressed up for dates, it's an unwritten rule in the big bible for girls. "I think the eyes. We can make the blue stand out more. It'll be very dramatic."  
  
"Why not the mouth?"  
  
"Because you have a great mouth already. Full and pouty. I've seen women pay lots of money for that mouth, and you were born with yours. Close your eyes."  
  
"Oh," Tia said closing her eyes and trying not to scrunch her nose up when the powdery stuff was brush across her eye lids. She sat in annoyed silence, while Mia instructed her-- open your eyes, close your eyes, look up, now down. relax you mouth, I said relax. --it was plucking at Tia's every nerve, but lucky for her it was over quickly. "Now what?"  
  
"The dress," Mia stated moving to her closet, and pulling out a simple velvet dress and shoulder wrap, presented it to Tianna. "I bought this for you, for your date. I've seen the stuff you wear, and forgive me, but none of it is really worthy of where Dominic is taking you tonight."  
  
"Oh really? Where's he taking me?" Tia asked, pulling the dress off the hanger and stepping into it.  
  
Mia pulled the straps up over Tia's shoulders and zipped the zipper in the back. "The Rom... Hey! Stop asking me! Really that's like the eight time you've asked me that in the past hour."  
  
Tianna grinned, "It's actually the tenth time. I was close though. You almost said it."  
  
"Here, put these on," Mia set a pair of strappy stilettos and a leather and velvet choker on the end of the bed for Tia. "I'm going to go see if he's here yet."  
  
As soon as Mia was out of the room Tia eyed the shoes suspiciously, "All right you shoes. I don't like you. I know you don't like me, but you better like me tonight." She sat on the bed, and pulled the hem of her dress up over her knees and strapped on the heels. Once she got comfortable in them she stood and took a couple of steps. With a short scream, and a thud, she fell. "Damnit! Why did she have to pick these shoes? I can't even walk in these." Tia growled and stood again. "I told you shoes to behave!"  
  
Mia came back into the room to hear the last comment and laughed, "You're talking to the shoes now?"  
  
"Yes, damnit!"  
  
"Listen he's here," Mia picked up the choker and fastened it around Tia's neck, "he's being a gentleman tonight. It's hard to believe I know, but he is. So you have to be a lady tonight. Watch your language, watch your manners, and for gods sake Tia, don't punch anybody in the face tonight."  
  
"I promise, I wont punch anyone in the face. Do I look okay?" Tianna was starting to get nervous, she'd never been on a date before. Add that on top of the fact that she really liked Dominic, as much more than a friend, and she was internally one hell of a mess.  
  
"You look beautiful, now go," With a shove Mia sent Tia stumbling out into the hallway.  
  
"Hey!" Tia started to spew an angry comment out of her raspberry painted mouth, but she heard Dominic's voice creeping up the stair well and she silenced. She could do this, she'd survived a lot worse. She could survive a date. She picked up the hem of her dress, and carefully made her way down the carpeted stairs.  
  
"Listen, Leon, I'm about to go to dinner, with Tia. Now is not the time to be asking me what I know about Mystic. Whatever questions your about to try and ask me you can ask her. I'm sure she knows the answers better than I do." Dominic stood at the bottom of the stairs in a black blazer and a dark blue silk shirt. In one hand he held a silver cell phone to his ear, in the other a bouquet of daisies. "Look, Leon," Dominic glanced up the stairs and away, then immediately jerked his attention back to the beauty descending the steps, "I, I have to go." With out another word the phone was shut off and slid into his pocket. "You look... amazing."  
  
Tianna blushed softly, and was thankful for once, for her naturally golden skin, because bushing didn't show up as much. "Thank you. You clean up real good, Toretto," Tianna teased lightly, tugging gently on the black tie around Dominic's neck.  
  
"These are for you," he held the flowers out, "you said you liked Daisies."  
  
"I do, thank you. They're beautiful." Tianna straightened the wrap around her shoulders a bit nervously.  
  
"Shall we go then?" Dominic offered a reassuring smile to the woman despite his own alien nervousness. He'd been on lots of dates with lots of woman, and had never been nervous. He was going on one date with this woman and his palms were sweating. He couldn't understand it, just shook it off as best he could and opened the door. With a hand on the small of Tia's back he escorted her out of the house and onto the front porch.  
  
Tia had only been focusing on two things when she left the house. One was the hand on her back that added to her nervousness. The other was where her feet were going because she could barely walk in the shoes Mia had gotten for her. Then she looked up. "Oh my god. Are we going to dinner in that?" Tia waved her daisies at the polished, black Charger parked in front of the house.  
  
Dominic laughed, Tia's reaction to the car, and the way she lit up had completely cured him of that odd nervousness. He nodded and took her hand has she hurried down the stairs and over to the curb to run her fingers of the glossy paint. "Yes, we are going to dinner in this."  
  
"Can I drive it?" Tia was grinning ear to ear, and was practically jumping up and down. She was truly excited over this car. She'd seen and been in plenty of supped up foreign cars, but this was truly a god of American muscle, "Can I? Please?" The last word was strung out like a child would do when begging it's parent for candy.  
  
Dominic shook his head, "Sorry, Princess, not this time." Dom opened the passenger side door, for Tia and shut it after she made sure all of her dress was in side the vehicle. Then he moved around to the drivers side and climbed in. When he started the car he laughed at the giddy sound Tia made, and they were soon off on they're way to the restaurant.  
  
The couple was seated at a little table by a window with a view of the Hollywood sign. A little red candle was set atop the wine colored table cloth, and the menus were printed on what, Tia was sure, had to be paper that was too expensive for it's own good. Along with plenty of things on the menu that Tia couldn't pronounce there was fillet mingion, rack of lamb, escargot, and varying things of the like. They were hoity toity dishes, and Tia loved it. She was in over her head with excitement, and couldn't keep it from showing. "What are you going to get, Dominic?"  
  
Dominic had removed his coat, and hung it from the back of his chair. He'd merely glanced over the menu before deciding on one of the sea food dishes, "Lemon glazed Dolphin."  
  
Tia gasped, "You can't eat that! What would Flipper say?"  
  
Dominic laughed, "Not Dolphin the mammal, Dolphin the fish. None of Flippers friends or family will be harmed in the making of my dinner." He lifted the bottle of chilled wine he'd ordered and poured Tia a glass and then poured some for himself. It was a blush, so it wasn't a weak white wine, but it wasn't the bold, heady red wine. It was just the right wine for the night.  
  
"Oh. I think I'll get the smaller fillet mingion. They wrap their's in bacon here. Can I get that?" Tia looked up at Dominic over the edge of her menu as she questioned him.  
  
"You can get whatever you want, Princess."  
  
"I'll have that then." She folded up her menu and set it on the edge of the table with Dominic's then took a slow sip of her wine. It was kind of sweet, but she liked it. If she ever had to give the color pink a flavor, it would probably be the same as the wine in her glass. She smiled when the waiter came back and Dominic gave the man their orders. She didn't say anything, she was thinking about what to say. For once, she was at a loss of words for the man.  
  
Dominic had looked up from his glass of wine to see those crystal blues watching him. She seemed to be studying him, so he figured he would take the opportunity to really look at her. She had very little make up on, a berry tinted lipstick, that was just a shade or two darker than her natural color, and some eye shadow. It was a black and gray, the eyes shadow, and gave her eyes this smoky alluring look. The dark shadow also caused her icy blue eyes to stand out immensely. Her dress was simple. It had a plunging neckline, and an empire waist line that emphasized the curve of her breasts, it fit snug to her torso down just past her hips, then flared out in a full, but loose skirt. It was velvet, the kind of fabric Dom could just run his hands over. Of course it could be that Tia was wrapped in that fabric that made him want to run his hands over it.  
  
"Your thinking something naughty, I can see it on you face." A wide grin spread slowly across her face, and her finger tips played along the rim of her wine glass.  
  
"I am not. I was just trying to figure out how you won that race against Letty the other night." Dominic had been thinking a not so nice, well he'd thought it was nice, thought, and had to cover it. He decided to distract her with a question.  
  
"You were not, but I'll tell you if you want to know. Thank you," the last comment was given to the waiter as he set the dish she'd ordered in front of her. After he'd given Dominic his, and left she continued. "So do you really want to know?"  
  
"Yes I really do." He took a bite of the fish, it was a small bite. When the next bite came he realized he had his elbows on the table and promptly removed them. He was supposed to be on his best behavior tonight.  
  
Tia was chewing a bite of her steak, so she didn't answer right away. She took a sip of her wine and then spoke, "All right you know how it really only took me maybe a week to finish my car," Dominic nodded, but that obviously hadn't been the answer and the look in his eyes beckoned her continuance, "however, in all the many months before that, I was building the engine. Which is not the engine of a Honda Civic, but of a Maclaren...Maclaren? God I can never remember the name of that car...anyway. You know the one I'm talking about. The really fast, really, super-expensive, foreign one. I spent months rebuilding that engine, so it would fit into a Civic frame. That's why I have six gears instead of the typical five, and that's why I beat Letty without NOS. Though I still could've beaten her." She said pointedly, then continued to eat her dinner.  
  
Dom was silent for about five full minutes, slowly eating his fish, and letting the answer she'd just given him settle in his mind. "That's why you didn't let Jesse open her up the night we raced."  
  
"Yep." Tia nodded, taking another bite of the steak, and looking up at Dominic.  
  
"And why you asked Tuesday, if I looked under the hood when I repainted your car."  
  
"Exactly. I mean, would you want a secret like that getting out? No one would ever race me again. Then I wouldn't make any money. And what fun would that be?" Tianna laughed, "Does that taste good?"  
  
"Yes. Do you want to try it?" Dominic cut a bit of his fish, and speared it with the fork, then he held it out to Tia. She looked at it hesitantly but soon leaned forward to take the morsel of his fork.  
  
She chewed slowly, deciphering the fish's taste and when she swallowed she arched a brow curiously, "It tastes like chicken. Do you want to switch?"  
  
Dominic laughed but soon found that he and Tia had switched plates and each was finishing the others dinner. The rest of dinner was finished in quiet, with only occasional comments and teases. Soon the waiter returned, offering desert, but both Tia and Dominic declined.  
  
Dom paid the bill and they exited the restaurant. Reaching into his pocket Dominic got the keys to his Charger and held them out to Tianna. "Want to drive?"  
  
"Are you serious?" Tia was grinning in the wild, childish way she had earlier when she'd asked if she could drive.  
  
"Sure, why not?" Dominic shrugged and put the keys in Tia's outstretched hand.  
  
Tianna raced over to the car and slid into the drivers seat, upon the realization that she could no better drive in the shoes as walk in them her foot was soon propped again the dashboard, and the hem of her skirt falling back as she undid the buckle for those horrid stilettos and tossed them in the back. As soon as both shoes were off, and Dominic was in the car, a giddy Tia started up the car, and raced back to Dominic's. He'd let her drive has fast has she wanted, just so he could witness the wild eyed expressions dance across her face. It had been a good date, but it certainly wasn't over yet. 


	21. Fluffy, but Right Crazy Antics

Fluffy, But Right-- Crazy Antics  
  
The black Charger had just been parked in front of the Toretto house hold. All the inside lights were off but the porch light had been left on for them. Mia was with Brian tonight-- they had the house to themselves. Dominic got out of the car, and tossed his jacket over his shoulder, he laughed as Tia danced in the tiny front yard with her shoes in her hand. "You'll ruin you panty hose doing that."  
  
"Then let them be ruined Mr. Toretto. I'm dancing!" She was laughing and smiling and her up do was falling from it's pins. When Dominic got close to her she jumped into his arms and threw her arms around his neck, her feet kicking up behind her, and the velvet dress flailing about with her movements.  
  
Dominic hadn't really expected that, and dropped his coat on the sidewalk in order to catch Tia and wrap his arms tight around her, "Oh you are in for it now," he grinned then spun her around until she was screaming and giggling and he was too dizzy to stand. When he fell back into the grass he softened the impact for Tia with his body, and bent his arms by his head, using his hands as a head rest.  
  
Tianna was stretched out on top of Dominic, her face buried in her arms on his chest, and her hair splayed out in an arch of dark cranberry. The dress was twisted around her body and tangled above her knees and her body was shaking with laughter, which Tia was able to get under some control, but not able to stop completely. She leaned up suddenly, for a moment, resting on her elbows against Dominic and tried to blow the mass of knotted curls out of her face.  
  
Dominic laughed and tugged a couple of pins out of Tia's hair, "Mia would be so furious if she saw what you did to that hair-do of hers."  
  
With the assistance of her arm Tia flipped her hair back, out of her face, "What I did?" She gasped, trying not to laugh harder, "I didn't mess it up all on my own Mister." She jabbed Dom in the chest.  
  
Dominic winced, and laughing, stuck his hands in her hair swished it about wildly, further messing up the style Mia had given it earlier, but also giving a new freedom to the curls. "How about that for not doing it alone?" He mocked when he pulled his hands free of the crazy mass of pink.  
  
Tia was just in temporary shock, "Oh you!" She tugged hard on his tie and then jumped up and darted across the yard, only to be caught up in Dominic's arms and spun around again. She pounced Dominic as soon as they fell to the ground dizzy, and bit him in the shoulder. Not hard, playfully, but she bit him.  
  
Dominic jaw drop and he fake horror, "You bit me!" He squirmed out of Tia's grasp and dodged her next pounce by quickly hurrying up the porch steps.  
  
Tia growled, and barred her teeth cutely, "Grr... I'm a lion." She held her hands up by her head like claws, and 'grred' at Dominic again. He quickly opened the door and ran in, and Tia chased after him.  
  
The door was slammed shut, just after Tianna made it inside, and Dominic leaned back against it. Tia threw herself against the man and a hand came up to turn the key and lock the door. The corner of her mouth hitched up slightly as she looked up at the man against the door. "You want to kiss me, Toretto?" Tianna asked quietly, blue eyes peering out from behind thick lashes.  
  
"Yeah," Dominic nodded, and leaned in just a bit to do it. Shocked when Tia nipped his bottom lip the quickly dashed just out of his reach.  
  
"Then you'll have to catch me first," Tia grinned, and darted for the stairs, she made it easily up two stairs, but when she reached the third her foot caught in the hem of her dress and she tumbled down, when she rolled over Dominic was looming over her with a grin. "Wait! Time out! The dress is cheating!" Tia was laughing and pushing at Dominic's chest.  
  
"Dom shrugged, "Then take it off," he grinned mischievously, and tugged lightly at the fabric.  
  
"There's an idea," Tia said reaching under allowing fingers to grab a hold of the zipper pull, and working it all the way down. Then she squirmed out of the dress, and out from under Dominic. Then she started up the stairs again, "Okay now go!  
  
Dominic laughed for moment simply staring, before chasing after the woman in a slip and panty hose. He were laughing, she was giggling, and when he caught her they tumbled down to the carpeted floor in his room, and he pushed some of that dye darkened hair from Tia's smiling face. "I win."  
  
"I guess you're just going to have to kiss me now, aren't you?" Tia grinned, Tia worked her arms out from under Dominic to wind them around his neck and pull him down a little closer to her.  
  
"You know I think... No... No I don't think I want to win just yet..." He laughed and rolled away from Tia.  
  
"And the battle ensues!" Tia jumped on top of Dominic's bed, grabbed one of the pillows, and chucked it has hard as she could at Dominic. It caught him in the head and he fell back, so she snatched up another pillow and threw it again at Dominic. When she turned to grab another pillow, she found that there were no more pillows, "Uh oh..."  
  
"Out of ammo Princess?" Dom grinned and threw one of the pillows back at Tia, who caught it, but Dom waited until she was about to throw it back at him. Then he threw the other pillow at her, hitting her with enough moment that it would knock off balance, so that she fell back with a squeal against the bed. "Are you ticklish?" Dominic ask as he climbed up onto the bed and straddled Tia's form lightly.  
  
"No, I don't think so..." Tia answered cautiously, looking up at Dominic with a wary gaze.  
  
"Oh really? We'll just have to see about that." Dominic grinned wickedly and poked Tia in the ribs. When she squirmed his grin grew and next thing that Tia would know, Dom would be tickling mercilessly, fingers attacking everywhere-- ribs, stomach, under arms, and finally grabbing her feet and tickling until Tia was squirming and laughing so hard there were tears streaming down her face.  
  
When Dominic stopped Tia was still laughing hard enough that when Dominic even held his finger out to her in a threat to tickle, Tia would laugh harder and try to get away. Satisfied, Dominic stretched out on the bed beside the giggling Tia, just watching her until she stopped laughing long enough to sit on his chest, "That was just evil," Tia said leaning over him.  
  
"I know." Dominic was grinning victoriously, and slid his hands up over Tia's thighs to rest at her hips, just under the slip she wore. "Are you wearing Care Bears today?" Dominic queried with a boyish smile.  
  
"Nope," Tia said and lifted her slip high up over her waist, "Penguin. He's pink. He's got an umbrella." She pointed to the little bird on the front of her black panties. They were styled like boys underwear, and all the edges were done in the same hot pink as the penguin and his umbrella.  
  
Dominic let out a robust laugh at Tia's lack of modesty, but then he slid his hands around to the front of her waist slowly and over the scars that he'd once seen there before. There were dozens of them, all randomly placed about her torso, he saw the faint line of the same scars around her side and imagined there were probably dozens more scars like these on her back. "What are these from?"  
  
"Flying through a window, and rolling in broken glass." Tia said in a matter of fact tone that almost made Dominic laugh. He didn't of course, but he did smile. It seemed Tia may have trouble talking specifically about her father but no trouble at all talking about her scars.  
  
"What about this one?" Dom asked dragging his finger along what looked to be a burn that led from the middle of the inside of her thigh to disappear beneath the cotton of her penguin panties.  
  
Tia looked down, and tried to keep some semblance of calm at Dominic's tracing of that scar, "Um, having my virginity stolen by one of those things you use to poke the logs in the fire."  
  
Dominic looked up in awe and pain, "Ouch."  
  
Tia nodded, curls bobbing with the action. "And these," she pointed to the varying sizes of faint cuts along the fleshy parts of her wrists, "are from Mary. This one," she pulled her hair back to reveal a tiny scar right by her left ear, "was an accident, but all Lilith's fault, and this one," She held her right foot out so Dominic could she the jagged scar on the bottom, "that's from Treeny."  
  
"Who are they?" Dom asked hooking his fingers into the top of one of Tia's thigh-highs and working it all the way down, and pulling it off, before sliding his hands back up the other leg slowly and removing the remain hosiery in the same fashion.  
  
Tia chewed her bottom lip, not from the question he'd asked but from the fact that their situation was changing slowly. Her fingers moved with a lingering pace to undo his tie and each button of his shirt. "Long story, not terribly important, I'll tell you later." The shirt tails were tugged from the waist of Dominic's slacks and pushed open. Her fingers then explored with a feather light quality, each place where muscle defined itself in his chest and abdomen.  
  
Dominic's hand moved up Tia's arms and removed the choker from around her neck, and tossed it in the floor, then cupped the back of her neck. While that hand pulled her down the other pushed lightly at her hip, coaxing her back, so that she would lay flat against him, save for the elbows she propped her self up on so she could look down into his face. "I'm going to kiss you now," Dominic said quietly, his darting out just enough to moisten his dry lips.  
  
Tianna's heart was pounding her chest and she wondered if Dominic could hear it. her mouth parted slightly taken in a breath before, smiling softly, "It's about time." She trembled when he ran a thumb over her mouth and her eyes shut tight, when his finally pressed against her. She was frozen, for just a moment.  
  
Dominic's mouth moved carefully over Tianna's, coaxing her into responding. He felt when she went rigid, and could feel the rapid pounding of her heart against his chest. Then he felt her pressing against him, her mouth moving with his, her hands sliding up over his chest to cradle his face. When her mouth opened slightly in invitation, he accepted eagerly. His hands thrust into her mass of curls, pulling her deeper into that kiss. Their mouths waged a passionate war, until, the both reluctantly tore from the embrace, practically gasping for breath. "I still have my shoes on." Dominic said as the thought had just occurred to him.  
  
Tia who was in silently awe, of the passion they had shared through a kiss, was shaken from the silence at his comment. She laughed and slid off of him so he could pull those shoes and socks of. She turned her back to him, and pulled that lace slip off.  
  
Dominic glanced up at Tia, who at the moment was pulling the remain bobby pins from her hair, and as he tossed his shoes and sockd onto the bedroom floor he saw the defined image of angel wings scarred into her back. in that moment he realized that there were few, if there were any, things pure in Tia's life. He wrapped his arms around her and while his fingers traced over the thin scars on her torso, his mouth brushed across her ear, "What about the scars on your back?"  
  
"They're my wings," She said quietly, "He gave them to me so that when all the bad things that had happened to me sent me to Hell, the Devil would know that I should've been sent to Heaven because I was his angel."  
  
Dominic sat for a long while, just holding her. When they laid back and pulled the covers up over their, mostly naked frames, he spoke, "I'm going to do things right by you. Things are going to be right between us. They are going to be a true and pure as when can get them."  
  
"I'm not pure, Dominic," Tianna said, snuggling in close to Dominic, until there was nothing but flesh between them.  
  
"You are. You have to be. You're an angel, and you've got the wings to prove. He gave them to you. I don't know who he is, and I'm not going to ask, but he said you were an angel and I believe him. So I'm going to do things right with the woman who's stolen my heart. I'm not taking advantage of any lust tonight. Things are going to be done right." 


	22. The Night the Car Crashed

The Night the Car Crashed  
  
Around ten-thirty, Sunday morning, the sun really started to shine into Dominic's room. Tia groaned and pulled the covers up over her head, Dom chuckled, he'd been awake for some time just watching Tianna sleeping. He'd watched as the stream of light crept over the dark blue comforter, and threaten to stir Tia from the peaceful slumber she was in, threaten to disturb the one time where she really looked at peace, calm-- unaffected by the horrors of her life. Dom pulled the covers up over his head too and scooted down in the bed until he was nose to nose with Tia. When she blinked her eyes open to raise a brow at him he spoke, "Hi."  
  
"Hi," Tia said through a yawn. She smiled serenely and kissed Dominic sweetly, only to find herself pulled into a deeper kiss and have his arms wound around her wait, holding her body tight to his. She laughed when the kiss stopped and grinned, "Good morning to you, too."  
  
Dominic laughed and tossed the covers off of their bodies, both grumbling and squinting their eyes at the onslaught of light, "The worst part is we were expecting that."  
  
Tia nodded, and grinned. "Yes, yes we did." The sun glinted off her hair oddly, it gave her hair the flamingo pink highlights Dominic was used to, but he could've sworn her hair had been darker.  
  
"Tia, did you dye your hair?"  
  
Tia scoffed, and then laughed, "Yes, you know, I did. I added red to it. Turned it this pretty cranberry color. Surprised you didn't notice last night."  
  
"I was worried about more important things last night that the color of your hair." He joked slipping out of bed, and stretching.  
  
Tia admired the body before her, then sat up, "You know what I'm worried about? Ice cream. I really want some ice cream."  
  
"There's some Double Fudge Brownie Chunk in the freezer downstairs, if you want."  
  
"I'm practically salivating, that's only like the best kind of ice cream on the planet." She hopped out of bed and grabbed the crumpled blue silk shirt that Dominic had discarded to the floor some time after she'd fallen asleep, and slipped it on. She buttoned it quickly, and headed out the door of the bedroom. "I'll be right back with two spoons and the ice cream."  
  
"What are you doing here?" Romeo's voiced stopped Tia dead in her tracks on her way down the stairs and she froze. For a second she just stared, then shook it off, "Well um..."  
  
"Hey isn't that the shirt Dom wore on your guys date last night," Brian who had been getting coffee for Mia and Ro said as he walked in from the kitchen. He instantly felt the impact of his words when both Mia and Tianna shot him nasty glares. He had forgotten that Romeo didn't know about the date. "Whoops," he had quietly as he sat by Mia on the sofa and received a hard smack in the shoulder for his slip up.  
  
"Their what?" Romeo slowly turned his attention back to Tianna and some strange puzzle pieces began to fit together in his mind. There was the shoes and jacket he saw laying in the yard, the wrap he found by the door and the blue dress that went with it stretched out on the stairs. His sister was there, standing on the stairs in on a wrinkled shirt that was too big for her, and buttoned wrong, with hair a tangled mess with a couple bobby pins still in it.  
  
"Hey Princess, where's that ice cream?" Dominic had come down the stairs bare-chested and bare foot. The linen pants he wore with his suit had loosened in the waist due to sleeping in them and the rim of his Speed Racer boxers could be seen. "Oh, hey, Romeo... um... it's not what it looks like?"  
  
"Shut-up, Dominic," Tia whispered harshly, then as her brother stood abruptly she jumped, "Forget that just run!" She and Dominic ran back up the stairs and down the hall way hand-in-hand, just barely getting his bedroom door shut and locked before Romeo came barreling into it.  
  
They were both laughing and grinning like fools. Dominic swept Tia up into his arms, "We're trapped Princess. I just wanted to let you know I love you before I go out and sacrifice myself to the dragon." He crushed her mouth with a kiss, set her down and turned for the door.  
  
"No! Come back here!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to her. As soon as they started running it became a game for her and she'd missed the sincerity in his comment. "We can escape!"  
  
"No you can't!" came a shout from the hallway.  
  
Tia giggled and Dominic rose a brow curiously, "How?"  
  
"Um, um, um..." Tia looked around frantically for an exit. "The window!" She covered her mouth when she thought she said it too loud, but soon the two were both on the bed pushing the window open.  
  
"I don't think we'll make it to the car before he gets out of the house..." Dominic said as they climbed onto the front porch roof. "I think that's him pounding down the stairs instead of the door."  
  
"Then we go up?" Tia commented, but it was more of a question.  
  
"Up will work." Dominic quickly climbed up onto the main roof off the house and pulled Tia up after him. They both collapsed against the hot shingles. Dominic pulled Tia's body up onto his to protect it from the heat of the dark roof. "Think we made it?"  
  
"Who cares? If not I doubt he'll come up here after us. Now kiss me in case we roast up here." Tia grinned and Dom was more than happy to oblige her. With their arms tangled around each other, they shared sweet little kisses, and kisses that would seem as if they were giving each other the last kisses the would ever give. As if death were towering over them and they knew that kiss would be their last.  
  
A sudden spray of cold water had Tia screaming, Dominic shouting curses, and Both of them scrambling to get out of the range of the water. "Stop kissing my sister!" Romeo shouted up at the two on the roof. He was standing in the front yard with the water hose, and glaring angrily at the couple on the roof. "Get down here now Toretto so I can kick your ass for sleeping with my sister."  
  
Dominic stood on the roof, with Tia behind him. She was hiding really, and using him as a human shield for the water Romeo used as a weapon. Oddly enough, Dominic didn't mind. "Listen, Romeo I didn't sleep with her, I mean, I did, but not like you're thinking!" Tia squealed when Romeo fired off another stream of water and laughed.  
  
"This is one of those times where you need to be real clear on what you say!" Romeo said lowering the water hose again. "Now get down off of that roof before you both slip and die."  
  
That was a legitimate argument for the two to get off of the roof, so Dominic climbed down on to the front porch roof then dropped down to the ground. Tia was following him down of course, so when she hung off the edge of the front porch roof, Dominic wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her down slowly. Tia had her arms wrapped around his neck, and they shared a look that was very telling.  
  
Romeo frowned and sprayed the two with water, "Stop that. Listen to me, Toretto. If you loved my sister enough to sleep with her, and you better have loved her when you did it, you better be planning on marrying her because I'm not having it any other way. Things are going to be done right."  
  
"Well I was planning on it, but you haven't exactly given me an opportunity have you?" Dominic glowered, and then because he was rapidly becoming angry, and Ro's display, he added, "and we haven't had sex!"  
  
Mia and Brian were leaning on the front porch railing. They had been watching since Romeo went out side, and both of their jaws dropped when they heard what Dominic had said in reply to Romeo. They both glanced at each other, shared the same slow grin, and turned their attention back to the show.  
  
"You were what?" Ro stared off slowly then advanced toward Dominic shouting and blasting him with the cold water from the hose, "How can you say that? You've barely known her for two weeks! You expect me to believe that you love her? Much less that you're planning on marrying her? I ought to beat some sense into you!"  
  
"Yes!" Dominic tried to dodge the heavy stream of water, and talk clearly, "Yes, damnit! I expect you to believe it! I'm in love with her! I have been for some time now! I love her and I'm going to marry her!" Dominic fell hard backwards, when his foot slipped on slick grass, but he didn't stop. "At least you know if she decides to say yes when I ask and you approve. I mean if you don't approve I'm still doing it, but it'll be right if you do."  
  
The blast of water stopped and Romeo stare for a long moment, just trying to put together all the thoughts in his head, and be mad at Dominic at the same time. He couldn't be mad, but he could be displeased, and he was when he spoke, "Get up."  
  
Dominic didn't have a chance to get up, as soon as he tried he was knocked back to the ground by a wet, pink haired woman, wearing his shirt. Tia had been be paralyzed first by Romeo's blatantly, brotherly comments, the just in awe, when Dominic professed his love, and the idea of marrying her, straight in the face of death, well, her brother, and that was more impressive. She sat on his chest and whispered down to him, "You're in love with me?"  
  
"Yeah," Dominic answered quietly, pushing a wet strand of hair from her face.  
  
"Really?" Tianna face contorted with the questioning thought before she continued, "because I do not want to fall unless there is going to be someone there to catch me."  
  
"Oh, well I'll catch you. I promise I will. Princess... if for some reason that I ever miss at all, I will stay right by your side until you're well again. I wont ever leave and you know that." Dominic watched a slowly Tianna's frowning mouth spread into a wide grinned and wrapped his arms around her when, she threw hers around his neck and kissed him for all she was worth.  
  
"Oh come on..." Romeo rolled his eyes and lifted the hose up and with heavy pressure on the nozzle's trigger sprayed the couple until they were laughing and shouting and screaming, until they ran around the side of the house and escaped his reach.  
  
"That was just mean," Mia scolded from the porch.  
  
"Oh yeah? No, I think this is meaner," with his brief warning issued Romeo soaked Mia too. He was laughing so he really wasn't being mean, just further wreaking a little summer chaos.  
  
The water war continued late into the day. Dominic and Tia had found the water hose at the back of the house and dragged it around to the side of the house to spray Romeo with. Mia and Brian had found old water guns inside the house. Even the other guys of the DT team got into it. They happened into it, get bomb-barded with cold water has soon they showed up at the house and exited their cars. With the victorious finding of balloons in Jesse's trunk, the three men joined in as well. When the battle came to an end the group was sprawled out all over the front yard and porch, all victims of mud and water, but all looking like they had a great time falling prey to the damages of water.  
  
"Do you love him, Tia?" Romeo asked. He hand Tia had stayed at the Toretto's for dinner, and were no driving along the coast it was starting to ran and the clouds were low, so it was hard to see, but Romeo still drove along.  
  
Tianna grinned happily, and leaned back in her seat, she was relaxed, and content, and just astounded at the discoveries made today. "I suppose I am. I've never really been in love before, so I don't know the symptoms. Have you ever been in love, Romeo?"  
  
"Once, a long time ago. My last year of high-school. Her name was Juliet so you can imagine were the talk of the school." Romeo grinned then squinted a bit, turning his high beams off as they were just reflecting off the fog and making it harder to see.  
  
"What happened? Where is Juliet now?" Tia turned in her seat so she could face the man who'd become her brother.  
  
"Her parents had her committed to a mental institution for chasing a bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol with a bottle of Jack Daniel's."  
  
Tianna blinked, that sounded like a familiar story, "Why would she do something like that?"  
  
"She told me she had a headache. She told the doctors they could fuck off." Romeo laughed turned the wind shield wipers up on high, the ran was really coming down now.  
  
"So where is your Capulet now?" Tia used the last name of the Juliet in Shakespeare's tragedy when she asked, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.  
  
"Well I think you know her now as Mystic."  
  
She was right, but she gasped and acted excited. "Really? No kidding?"  
  
"No kidding."  
  
"So that's why you're so cranky about her breaking up with you. You guys had a history! I can't believe you didn't tell me about her before."  
  
"So I had a secret, sue me."  
  
"No, I'm not going to sue you. I have my own secrets."  
  
"Oh?" Romeo arched a brow curious and looked over at Tia. "Like what?"  
  
Tia took a deep breath, "Well for one thing...I was commi--" Something to the right caught her eye and she screamed, "Ro, look out!"  
  
Ro slammed his foot on the brakes but it couldn't stop the other car from slamming into the right side of the blue Mustang and sending it rolling and tossing down the beach side cliff. They'd seen the flash of purple too late, they couldn't have stopped it from happening even if they'd seen it seconds earlier.  
  
In the sand the car lay crumpled by the impact of all the rocks. The rag top roof was torn badly, and the passengers inside were lucky to have survived, even if it was just barely. Tianna was rubbing her head, it was sticky with blood from where she banged it on the dash board and cut on the side from where her window shattered. The searing pain in her left shoulder meant one of two things-- either her stitches had ripped open, or her shoulder was dislocated. When she managed to open one eye, the other was cut just below the brow and Tia couldn't see through the blood, she realized then it actually could mean both things. "Oh god..." She groaned and crawled out of the car, seeing on the beach nearby the unconscious body of her brother.  
  
Tianna crawled over to him and looked him over, he had shrapnel embedded deep in his abdomen. She was whispering to Ro telling him to hang on, begging him to stay alive so she could go find help and get him fixed, so she wasn't paying attention to the car when it's engine caught fire. All she knew when the fire reached the NOS was the roaring in her ears, and the stinging pain of metal and glass bits hitting her in the back. She screamed, but strong as she made herself be, she refused to pass out from all the pain, and forced her self to stand. She had to lean heavily on her left because the slightest bit of pressure on her right knee made her vary aware of the hot steel deep in her calf. "I'm going to get help. You don't go anywhere, and stay alive."  
  
When Tianna reached the road she was greeted by a woman she'd only once met before, and collapsed into that woman's arms. "The car... went off the road... it exploded. Ro's hurt real bad... we have to find help." Tia was forced to stand again by the woman who was there, but had to lean heavily on the woman for support.  
  
"I know," the rough voice said calmly. "I already called them, I was driving by when I heard the explosion. They're on the way, but right now we have to get you somewhere safe." This seemed to placate Tia and without argument she allowed the woman to put her into the purple Nissan 240SX.  
  
"Is he going to be okay?"  
  
"I'm sure he'll be fine, honey," the woman answered climbing into the driver's seat. Soon they were speeding off down the road, past hospitals and anything really resembling civilization, they were heading up into the mountains.  
  
"Where are we going?" Tia was starting to loose consciousness, growing weak from the trauma and the blood loss, "Letty, do you have a phone? I want to call Dominic."  
  
"Dom will just take you to a hospital, and I know you hate those, don't you?"  
  
"Yeah, but..."  
  
"Well I'm taking you somewhere, where they can fix you up good, and as soon as they're done you'll be able to go back home where you belong."  
  
Tianna was unable to do anything but comply as she slipped into the black that wanted to overtake her. In the black she couldn't feel the pain. She didn't have to think, she didn't have to worry about anything, in the black she could just be quiet. She could survive on the one thought alone in her head, "Home where I belong, home with Dominic, and Romeo, and with Dominic because he loves me."  
  
Letty glanced over to the woman in the passengers seat when she mumbled about Dominic, and frowned. "Dominic? That was not the home I was told about." 


	23. On the News

On the News  
  
"Tonight on the eleven o'clock news, a horrible car crash leaves the beach littered with burning debris and leaves a man dead."  
  
This was playing on the television when Mia and Brian sat down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. "Come on Brian put in the movie." Mia said handing the video to her ex-cop boyfriend.  
  
"Let's watch this first. Just the part about the crash." Brian responded turning the volume on the television up a bit louder.  
  
"Not watching the movie?" Dom asked relaxing in his big leather chair.  
  
"Shh, it's back on."  
  
"Tonight, just a half an hour ago, a blue Mustang was reported to have skid off the road, and over the side of the rocky cliffs that line the beaches of LA. Hello, This is Ana Sawyer reporting on this tragic event. As you look behind me you'll see what's left of the Mustang convertible that crashed moments ago. All that remains is a charred, crumpled hunk of metal, and scattered debris from when the tank of Nitrous Oxide, a gas used by street racers, blew up. The man found at the scene, seemingly thrown from his car as it tumbled down the jagged cliff, was impaled with a large piece of metal shrapnel and dead on arrival. Detective Morris, may I have a word with you, please?"  
  
"Certainly ma'am."  
  
"What do you think of this terrible event? Do you know who the man is?"  
  
"I think that this wasn't an accident, Miss Sawyer. Up on the road, my men and I found two sets of skid marks. They were in a position that says to me the Mustang was forced over the edge. Even if the one car had been capable of creating both marks, the tires from the skid marks don't match up. Which proves someone forced the Mustang over the edge."  
  
"So you think it was a murder?"  
  
"Yes I do, and an obviously successful one I'm sad to say."  
  
"What a terrible thing to happen. Who was the man? Why would anyone want him dead?"  
  
"We got lucky this time, the man had his wallet in his pocket. We identified the body as Romeo Donovan, the owner of the local Italian restaurant. His body is being taken down to the city morgue for any family to come claim his body."  
  
"Well, there you have it folks. Popular restaurant owner involved in a crash that cost him his life. Who would do such a terrible thing? Why kill a man so renowned as Romeo Donovan? What's to become of the local's favorite restaurant Romeo's? We may never know the answers to any of theses questions. This is Ana Sawyer, signing off."  
  
Mia was crying and Brian turned off the TV, "Oh fuck. How could that have happened Dominic? I can't believe he's dead." Brian remained calm somehow, but he was only outwardly calm. He had to be, he had to comfort the woman sobbing in his arms.  
  
For a moment Dominic was silent, his mid absorbing the news he'd just received and trying to make sense of it all. Then it clicked Aidan was after Tianna. He'd known about her working at the restaurant. He had to have been behind it. Dominic growled in rage and knocked the coffee table into the TV, breaking the screen. "I'm going down to the morgue." Dominic snatched his coat off the hanger, and flung the door open.  
  
"Dominic," Mia turned to meet her brother's furious gaze, "Dominic, they didn't mention Tia."  
  
"It that him, sir?" the man in the morgue asked as he and Dominic looked in on Romeo's lifeless body through a pane of glass.  
  
"Yeah," Dominic said starring down at the vision before him, "yeah that's Ro."  
  
"Were you related to Romeo Donovan?"  
  
"No, we were close friends."  
  
"Does he have any family you can contact?"  
  
"Only his surrogate sister, Tianna."  
  
"And where is she, Mister Toretto?"  
  
"That's a good question. Wish I had an answer. All I know is they were at my house not twenty minutes before the accident, and she left with him in that car. If they found him on the beach they should've found her."  
  
"Well, we only found one body," Detective Morris had arrived, and was the one who spoke.  
  
"I see that. What do you suppose that says about you?"  
  
"Now Mister Toretto, don't get hostile."  
  
Dominic's fist slammed into the glass, making it shake in it's frame, and he turned to glare at the detective, "One of my closest friends is dead, his sister, the woman I was planning on marrying is missing, and could very well be dead for all I know, and your telling me to not get hostile?" Dominic grabbed the detective by the lapels of his brown trench coat, "Why don't you tell me what you going to do about it?"  
  
"They're were patches of blood in the sand, found leading away from scene of the accident."  
  
"And Tianna?"  
  
"No we didn't find anyone else," the detective sounded ashamed, felt like he could've done more. Especially since Tianna was a rare name, and back when he was still just a rookie man in blue he'd taken dark haired girl named Tianna to a mental hospital after being paid off by the owner of O'Brien and company. He liked to believe he'd risen above that though. "I'm terribly sorry for your loss, sir, and I can assure you we are going to do everything in our power to find Tianna for you."  
  
"Yeah, right," Dominic scoffed and walked away from the detective. Before he left the morgue though he turned and looked the man straight in his eyes, "Why don't you start with her step father, Adian O'Brien. I'm sure you've worked with him before. I hear he's real popular with the cops, practically has them in his pocket."  
  
The detective stood in shock. It was the same girl as before. Which meant that the detective wouldn't be able to do anything for the poor creature. Toretto had been right, there were almost zero cops not on O'Brien's payroll. He shook his head and sighed, the girl was dead. If she wasn't, he believed with all his mind, because he never did anything with his heart, that Adian would find a way to change that. 


	24. The Lacking of Feeling

The Lack of Feeling  
  
Tianna stirred, her eyes blinked open and she stretched. At least she knew she tried. She looked up, yes, her hands were above her head, she was stretching-- she just couldn't feel her body. Tianna looked around and all she saw was white. Oh dear, I've died, she thought as she looked down at herself. No, her slightly scarred form was dressed in a simply white T- shirt like smock, that reached down just past her knees. She wasn't dead, she was dreaming.  
  
That would explain the blur around the edge of her window of sight. She stood, her bare feet barely perceiving the cold coming from the tiled floor beneath her. Tianna walked slowly to the door at her left. First she peered out of the small, rectangular window, there was a hallway, and another door directly across from hers. She fancied she could see herself looking back at her from behind the other door.  
  
She searched her side of the door for a knob, but there was none to be found. There was only a small keyhole and a distinct round impression directly above that signified where a knob had once been. "Some one has taken my knob," Tianna said out loud. At least she thought she spoke the words. She couldn't hear her own words, nor could she feel her mouth move.  
  
"I must get out there, some one has taken my knob." Her numb fingertips grasped onto the small ledge in front the pane of glass in her door, and then pulled. Very slowly the door pulled open and Tianna moved out into the hallway. She looked back over her shoulder as the door swung shut behind her. "There's a knob on this side," she noted," but it isn't my knob. No, my knob belongs on the other side."  
  
Tianna looked to her left and saw only the white of the hallway, but saw no end. She turned her head to the right, and saw the same vision. Doors, just like hers, line the walls. All perfectly placed and balanced. "Well, I have to go one of the ways. I certainly can't go both." She chose left, meandering down the hallway with her hand dragging along behind her feeling none of the texture visible on the wall. "I wonder how they got everything so symmetrical," Tianna spoke and this time was almost sure her mouth had moved. "Maybe they used a mirror..." No, if they'd used a mirror then I'd see myself, she finished silently.  
  
The hallway began getting brighter and Tianna squinted against the light and shielded her eyes with her hand. The hallway seemed to open into a bright room and Tianna stopped momentarily to question to her shadow, "Now where am I?" There were people, at least she thought they were people. The seemed to be dressed like her, but everything was a blur and it was worse with the light reflecting off of everything. "Angels? I thought angels had wings," Just ahead of her there was a darkened silhouette of a child. She approached the figure until it came into the same light as everything else. "Are you an angel?"  
  
"I was under the impression that you were the angel," the girl who appeared no more than eight years old talked as if she were more aged, "you were the one given wings."  
  
"Am I dead?" Tianna queried looking down on the girl child.  
  
"You don't appear to be."  
  
"That's good. It means I'm dreaming. I am dreaming right?"  
  
"Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not."  
  
"Someone has stolen my knob."  
  
"They've taken all of the knobs."  
  
"Oh," Tianna didn't say anything for a long time, just looked around. The people, the ones she thought were angels, were just wandering around, no one had seemed to notice her at all. They interacted with each other, but none of them had given her a glance. She looked back to the girl. "Are you the only one who sees me?" Tianna whispered as if speaking too loudly would interrupt the others ongoing.  
  
"No," the girl smiled as if she held all the secrets of the universe in her mind, "you are the only one who sees me."  
  
"Who are they?" Tianna pointed to the two men in white with masks on. They were coming nearer to the girl and her, but seemed to move in a slow motion that made Tianna dizzy.  
  
"They're the men in white coats."  
  
"I've heard that somewhere, before... a long time ago." Tianna said, her mind growing distanced. "It's this place. It feels so unfamiliar, yet I think that I should know it well." Tianna looked down to the girl child and reached a hand out to her. The girl seemed to be fading away the closer the men got, and Tianna didn't want her to disappear. "I think I used to belong here."  
  
"You do belong here Tianna," the voice that echoed in Tianna's ears was not that of the girl child but of a man. It was a voice she didn't recognize. It made her uncomfortable. "You've been with us before you know. I'm hurt that you'd forget us."  
  
"Mart, don't talk to her just stitch up those cuts before she looses anymore blood and dies." That voice had been a woman's, it did nothing to soothe Tianna.  
  
She tried to open both eyes and see those that were speaking to, and about, her. Though when she did open her eyes she realized that only one of the could, the other was blocked, something prevented it from opening. Her left eye blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the two persons in white looming over her, and moving their hands over her. She only dully felt them prodding her with their fingers.  
  
"The good news is they're fixing you up." A child-like voice spoke quietly.  
  
"She's going to die anyway."  
  
"But not at our hands, you know she has to go back to him."  
  
Tianna turned her head to the side and her one eye focused on the girl who had just been in her dream, "You..." She felt a hard pressure in her shoulder and asked the girl, "What was that?"  
  
"They just relocated your shoulder," The girl took a step closer to Tianna.  
  
"Was it missing?" Tianna murmured, it was hard for her to come up with more complex sentences, and she felt her words slurring together.  
  
"She talking again. Should we give her more morphine?" The woman in white asked the male.  
  
"No, no... just give her the serum injection."  
  
"Why can't I feel anything?" Tianna knew the two in white were doing things to her, poking and prodding, she saw the blurry image of what could be needles and some blue colored substance being injected into her flesh, but she felt only vague points of pressure.  
  
"Used to be because he left," The two in white didn't seem aware of the little girl though she was standing right next to Tianna with a hand resting on the side of the steel table where she lay.  
  
"When who left?" Tianna didn't understand. She groaned softly trying to remember something, anything, but found all she remembered was her dream. There were images, but she didn't know what any of them meant. She was lost. "Do I still have my fingers? I can't feel them..."  
  
"Mart, now she's mumbling about her fingers... Do you think she'll come around? Should we restrain her?"  
  
"I don't think that will be necessary, it's probably just her psychosis working it's way to her mouth from the drugs."  
  
"Oh you meant physically," The girl giggled softly, despite the fact that the situation lacked humor. She looked up to the doctors then back down to Tianna. "They gave you drugs. Most of them were to shut down you sensory of touch. They gave you other shots though, that I don't think were meant to be helpful, but at least they are fixing all you wounds."  
  
"I don't remember what happened to me..." Tianna said softly, "I don't remember anything."  
  
"No, I'm sure you don't. You need time to heal. Soon, maybe when the doctors stop giving you the numbing stuff, you're going to wake up. When you do you are going to remember. You will remember everything, but not yet. They wont allow it."  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"You can call me, Angel."  
  
"But, you said, you weren't an... angel." Tianna's sentence was broken into parts as she once again slipped from the conscious world and back into the blackness of her mind. Back into the blackness where she could just be quiet and think, or just be quiet and sleep. Back where she didn't have to worry about the lack of feeling. 


	25. That Old Box of Photographs

That Old Box of Photographs  
  
It had been almost two full weeks since Dominic had found out about Romeo's death and Tianna's missing, and now, he stood in the middle of the apartment his friends had shared. It was now mostly empty catering only to what was left in the kitchen, a metal bed frame, and a big blue chair. The land lord had apologized for the loss of Romeo, but with no one to pay the rent, the apartment needed to be emptied, in one manner or another, so that it could be rented out again.  
  
Dom had chosen to collect Romeo and Tia's belongings instead of having them hauled off the dump. Jesse had already taken down the boxes of Romeo's papers and files he organized. Mia had packed up all the material things-- clothes, sheets and curtains, and Leon had taken them out of the apartment. Vince and Brian had packed up everything else--the electronics, and the few knickknacks Romeo owned. The two were now working on taking the big, blue chair out of the space, since it was the only remaining furniture in the room. The men had taken the rest out earlier.  
  
It was a depressing sight, especially to those who knew the reasoning for the empty apartment. Dominic remembered when the space had been a home to a boisterous Italian man, and his surrogate sister. It had been lively place full of laughter and car talk. One of his closest friends was dead and buried, and he didn't even know if the woman he had fallen in love with was alive.  
  
"Dominic? Can you help me please?" Mia was standing in the closet, staring up at a shelf above her head.  
  
"I thought you packed up the closet already?" Dominic asked, he tried to put a humored tone to that comment, but it didn't show through.  
  
"I did, but I forgot the box up there. I tried to get it, but I couldn't get my fingers on it. It just kept being pushed further away, and now I really can't reach it." Mia waved a hand at the shelf as if the strip of wood had moved the box further from her.  
  
"Hey Dom, all the stuff is in the truck." Vince said poking his head into the closet.  
  
"All right. Mia you go on down with the guys. I'll get the box and then follow."  
  
"Sure, okay." Mia and Vince left the apartment silently as they paid their last respects to the memory of the place, and then join the rest of the team down by the moving truck that held all that had once been in the top floor loft.  
  
Dominic grabbed the edge of the shelf and leaned up so that he could see of the plank of wood and locate the grasp dodging box. An arm was stretched up and he just barely got a hold of the box's top. Though he pulled it slowly toward the edge, he faltered taking it down and the box dropped.  
  
Hitting the floor the top popped off and the contents of the box slipped forth. They were Photographs. Dominic bent down to pick up one of the glossy sheets. "Tia..." the snapshot was a close up of her smiling one of those dazzling smiles. Her hair was not it's brilliant pink hue, but was what Dom could guess was probably her natural ebony color. Her eyes were the same crystal blue emblazoned in his memory.  
  
Dominic crouched down to look through the other pictures. They were pictures of Tianna at Romeo's restaurant. Pictures of her and her surrogate brother. There was a picture of her in an alley. She was holding a mangy cat out toward the camera, and the look on her face said she was begging to keep him. He recognized the look, she'd shown it to him when she'd seen the Charger. His heart was starting to hurt, and he sat with his knees pulled up, looking at the images of this woman around him. There were a few other knickknacks-- an ankh pendant, it might have been copper but he couldn't tell; a diamond ring, well the diamond wasn't the focus, there was a double star sapphire in the middle setting, it was blue; and then there was the car god, to be more exact the small pink troll doll, with it's hair braided. He knew it was a car god because it had been made a little T-shirt that proclaimed it's profession. He smiled a little, but the images around him began to grow blurred in his sight and he covered his face with his hands.  
  
That was how his sister found him about twenty minutes later, "Dominic, what's taking you so-- oh," Mia's tone changed considerably when she saw the dozens of pictures surrounding Dom. "Oh Dom..." Mia sat down in front of Dominic and the scattered pictures, and for a time just watched her brother. He hadn't been crying, he hadn't allowed himself that release. Mia looked over the pictures, and she smiled softly. She had taken some pictures of her own, the developed images were in fact, in the purse that hung off her shoulder.  
  
"She's gone, Mia..." Dominic finally spoke, his voice low, scarred with an indescribable sadness. "They're both gone." Though he did speak, he didn't look up, didn't look anywhere, he kept his hands over his face. He didn't want to see the pictures. Didn't want to see the image captured on paper. He didn't need to the face was always in his mind.  
  
"Romeo, died Dominic. I miss him just as much as you do but you have got to move on." Though the words she spoke were harsh, her tone was calming. "We've delt with death before. We've had experiences teach us first hand about it. Mommy died when we were young. Cancer, I know you remember, you knew her. I was just two, I only have pictures." Dominic looked up at her with hurt eyes, she knew she was bringing up painful memories, but it was necessary for him to move on. "Then Daddy. You saw that one, Dom, you watched it happen. You nearly beat a guy to death, and you spent two years in prison. Death has made you hard, and life has made you strong." Mia's voice was raised slightly, she spoke with more conviction as she continued. "Ro is dead, but he would not want us lingering over his absence. He was not that kind of person. Don't waste the friendship you had, on the seconds when death took him. He's still with us Dominic, not physical, not so we can see and touch him, but he is here. He is a part of us and the best thing we can do for him is to remember him as he was alive. To remember the years we spent together."  
  
Mia picked up a picture of Tianna, and held it out to Dominic, "We have to find her Dominic. For Romeo, he would want us to do that for him. He would wants us to make sure she's protected. She's out there Dominic, alive somewhere, hurt, but alive. She's just waiting to be found."  
  
"How do you know... How do you know she's alive?" Dominic questioned Mia, but his mournful, brown eyes were focused on the picture in his sister's hand.  
  
"Because I believe it, Dominic what does your heart tell you? Can you really believe she's not alive?" Mia knew she'd proved her point when her brother looked up at her and she seemed to see a new vision in his eyes. To further reinforce the walls he was building to support himself she added, "Dominic you have to be strong for her. She needs you to be strong for her."  
  
Nothing else was said between them, but they put the pictures back in the box neatly, and laid the car god, pendent, and ring on the glossy prints. The lid was put back on the shoe box. That old box of photographs had reminded Dominic of his promises. They had reminded him that the woman he loved needed him. He'd promised her he would be strong for her; he'd promised to protect her and always be with her; promised to beat down all that frightened or hurt her. God help him he would keep his word. 


	26. There was a time in my life

"There was a time in my life..."  
  
In a little apartment with a view of the Los Angeles skyline, and an open window, Leon lay in a bed that was not his own. One arm was under the pillow that, for the past few nights, was his, and his other arm was around the slender body of his lover. Neither was, nor had been, soundly sleeping. They had merely been each other's comfort. They had discovered ways to block the pain, in each other's embrace, but the relief was temporary, and the pain was deep and lasting. The night had been quiet for the pair, the sound of the cars didn't even interrupt as if they knew the night would be important.  
  
"Are you going to hurt me Leon?" The woman asked as she sat up in bed and pulled her partner's discarded T-shirt on.  
  
"I could probably ask you the same thing, Mystic. You do kind of have a reputation as being a heartbreaker." Leon brushed his fingertips through the woman's hair as she stood and he watched her walk over to the window.  
  
"There was a time in my life when I wasn't," She said turning her honey eyes back to the man occupying her bed. "There was a time in my life where love meant something, because I believed it was possible. A time when I believed in the goodness of people."  
  
"Mystic?" Leon sat up, he was beginning to get wary of the turn this conversation had so rapidly decided to take. He didn't mean for it to, but his voice showed it.  
  
"I'm sorry," looking down at the floor, her voice was ashamed, and quiet, "I guess I just need to talk to someone and you're are the only one I think I can talk to right now."  
  
Leon wrapped a blanket around himself as he stood, and asked, "Why me, though?"  
  
"You are the only one left," Mystic answered as Leon took a seat on the window sill. "Romeo's dead. Tia's gone, and a certainly can't talk to Dominic. Though he would probably understand the most, things I need to say would probably just make the loss worse for him." A soft sigh escaped her and she looked into her lover's brown eyes, "So now there's just you Leon Vegas. You are the only one left. You are the only one I can talk to now."  
  
Leon sat silent for a moment, thinking about what she'd said. He knew she'd had a relationship with Romeo, and that she'd been friendly with Tia after the pink haired woman painted her car. He seemed like she had more of a history with the two though, and he didn't know that story. "I can't guarantee that I'll understand, but I'll try."  
  
"I have more of a history with Romeo, than you or the team knows. We went to high school together. I was a freshman when he was a senior, but we started dating. We ended up being the talk of the school. Real life Romeo and Juliet."  
  
"Juliet?" Leon asked with a small smile.  
  
Mystic laughed a bit, "Yeah, Juliet, it's my real name. I don't like it a whole lot. Juliet Tuesday Morris, just doesn't have a nice ring to it."  
  
"Well Leon Storm Vegas isn't any better."  
  
"Yes it is. Has a much nicer, more powerful ring to it." She laughed again then sat on the window sill with Leon. "Anyway, we dated in high school. Fell in love and all that mushy stuff. He had to graduate though and I knew it wouldn't work. So in the typical teenager fashion I got depressed, but never told him, or anyone what was wrong. That didn't stop him from asking, or my parents from worrying, but I didn't care. I thought my world was ending.  
  
"It's kind of silly I know, but hey teenagers are like that. One day though, and this wasn't the first time I had done it, but it was the first time anyone else did anything about it. One day though, I chased a bottle of, what was it... Extra Strength Tylenol, brand new, still had the cotton in it when I opened it, with a bottle of Absolute. I think I got the idea from a movie."  
  
"Why did you do it?"  
  
Mystic scoffed slightly, "I had a headache."  
  
"So what happened?" Leon asked, prompting her to continue.  
  
"My parents being the overly moral, overly religious kind, thought at once I was suicidal and had me institutionalized, for a year and a half the first time. That was fun," Mystic added sarcastically. "The place is called Rostengburg Falls. It's a facility for the mental unwell. It's up in the mountains and there's a little waterfall nearby."  
  
"You're own parents had you committed to a loony bin?"  
  
"Yes, and don't call it that. That's where I met Tianna, and she is not loony. Neither was Gavin, or me."  
  
"I'm sorry," Leon said holding his hands up in surrender, then questioned, "Gavin?"  
  
"That's not my story to be telling. If we ever get Tia back you'll have to ask her."  
  
"Tia was in Rostengburg?"  
  
"Yes, unfortunately," Mystic sighed as she remembered the day she'd met Tianna, "She was cute, only about eleven or twelve years old. She didn't say a lot to anyone except Gavin. He had I were both already there when she came, he was sixteen, and loved her the moment he laid eyes on her. He protected her, well he tried to."  
  
"Protect her? From what?"  
  
"The doctors. They had all sorts of treatments they wanted to give Tianna for being disturbed. You have to understand though, she wasn't lying about anyone the things they said she was. But they gave her serums, and pills, and drugs. That first year wasn't so bad, she didn't understand anything then. She was still just the quiet little girl who had showed up that first day, on the day I left.  
  
"A year later though, being the fucked up teenager I was I did something else my parents didn't approve of and they sent me back. Tia was still there, and Gavin. The drugs were fucking her up. One day she'd be the quiet little girl I remembered then she'd be violent, or suicidal, or just unresponsive to anything. There were times she didn't even blink for hours."  
  
"Why doesn't anything be done about the things these doctors do?"  
  
"Because no one wants to spend their tax dollars on the insane." Mystic looked out over the skyline and continued with her story, "I was in and out of the Institution and every time Tia was still there, and Gavin, until the last time... but that's still not my story to tell. Just know that the treatments got worse with her, she should've died from all they did to her. The shock therapy was the worse. It left her damaged. She got out the year after I finally left. It was just coincidence that she happened to work at Romeo's, coincidence that I dated the man again for a time, Coincidence that brought us together. It was kind of bad though, that Ro, who had come to visit me a few times when I was first committed, had said something about the girl I was always around, but he didn't recognize her when she began working at his restaurant."  
  
"Could be fate." Leon said after Mystic had finished her story.  
  
"Do you believe in fate, Leon?"  
  
"It seems like too much to be a coincidence. If you and Romeo were in love, why'd you break up with him?"  
  
"I still loved him, but we'd both moved on with our lives. The affection was still there, the friendship, but the love was gone. It had hurt, both of us when we did it, but we agreed to stay close and we did even though we didn't act like it. It had become a sort of game for us, the whole love hate thing. It made racing each other more fun, it helped the time pass a bit more quickly when things began to remind us of what we had."  
  
"I think I understand... at least why you couldn't tell Dominic, why you had to come to me. Your confidant, and the friend you'd been through hell with are both gone. You really didn't have anyone else to talk to."  
  
Mystic just shook her head, and slid into the arms of her lover. She felt him wrap the blanket around her and the embrace, just touched her. She wasn't alone. There love may not be the kind she and Romeo had, and it might not even be love of the stay together forever sort, but for now what they had was enough. It helped her feel better, that she had talked to this man. She could move on now. At least past the pain of death and loss. She could move past the time in her life, that had happened days ago, and lingered on her mind until moments ago. 


	27. Graveyard Confessional

Graveyard Confessional  
  
"Hey Romeo," Dominic spoke quietly, staring down at the headstone overlooking the young grave. He had been standing there for almost an hour before he spoke, perhaps working out his thoughts, perhaps just working up the nerve to speak, or perhaps, he was just stunned with the realization that his friend was truly dead. "I'm sorry. I would've come sooner, but I didn't want to face the facts. It's Sunday today, you've been dead for exactly a month now. I walked by your restaurant today, he was empty, and the windows were dark. It kind of reminded me of something you might see in a movie, but then again, the past two have been very movie-like. First the race and meeting the girl. Saving the girl, then fixing her up. Spending the day falling in love with the girl, while she confesses her life. Then the first date, where you truly realize you want to spend the rest of your natural life with the woman you only just met two weeks before. Then things get darker more dramatic, the car crashed, your friend, the girls brother dies, the woman is missing, and the cops are saying murder. Yeah, that sounds an awful like a movie to me."  
  
Dominic sat down at the edge of the grave, and rested his arms upon his knees, keeping his eyes on the name engraved in marble, "This should be a movie. It shouldn't really be happening, so why is it? Why were you killed? Why was Tianna ripped from my life? Is fate really that cruel? It's not fair."  
  
"Life isn't fair," Dominic said after a few long minutes of silent thought. "Mia made me realize that the day we were moving your things out of the apartment. I found a box of photographs and for a time it was like, I couldn't be aware of anything except the fact that you were gone. This certainly isn't my first experience with death. Mia's right, I should be handling this better. Mom died when I was ten, she had some kind of cancer, and that's what killed her. Then that guy hit the back of my dad's car and dad went into the wall... he died too.  
  
"I am just at a loss this time, I guess. I can't move on completely. I accepted that you were dead, but because I still have the memories, you still with me. Mia said that was the best think we could do for you, was to remember you alive, not in the sixty seconds when you left us. Those sixty seconds are obsolete, compared to the years we shared. It's just nothing compared to all the good times we had. Hell, even you almost beating my ass for dating Tianna was a good time."  
  
Dominic, who had nearly been smiling, and chuckling in the remembrance of good times, grew broodingly silent. His gaze averted for the headstone almost ashamed to be looking at the carved marble. "Tia..." He said, his voice showing the hurt he felt. "That's where the problem comes in. I can get past the death, but not when I don't even know if she's alive. Mia says to trust my heart, to listen to what it believes. Mia believes Tianna is alive. I just don't know. I want to believe, I do, but... I don't think I can. It's like the odds are against her being alive and I don't want to take the gambling risk and roll the dice.  
  
"She has to be alive. She has to be out there some where. I have to find her Romeo. I will find her-- for both of us. I bet you're worried about her too. I bet you can't rest. I made some promises to Ro, and I intend on keeping them. Maybe they were things I shouldn't have promised because I've already done a piss-poor job of sticking to them." Dominic was angry suddenly, mad at himself, mad that he wasn't keeping his promises.  
  
"I promised to protect her Ro, and look what good I did. She out there hurt somewhere. I can't go to the cops. O'Brien owns the cops. I'll find her some how though. I found her before. I found her that night she was shot, that first race. I don't know how I did, but I did find her." Dominic took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Then he continued, "I promise you I'll find her Romeo. I promise I will be the one to protect her from everything, and everyone, and even every frightening dream. Once I find her, she wont hurt anymore.  
  
"I do love her, Romeo. I know you didn't approve. I know you didn't believe, but I'm asking you to believe now. I really do love her. I feel like a part of me is missing, like she's the only thing that will fill that empty space inside of me. I am going to find her, and hold on to her so tight that nothing will every take her away again. She called me her angel once, but I think she's the angel. I think she's the one who's watching over me. I promise I will never hurt her. I will never do to her what I did to Letty.  
  
"I still regret what I did to her. I thought she was the one. I thought she was the one I could spend my life with. So after all the things that happened that year with pulling the truck heists for Tran, and after Vince and Jesse got out of the hospital, we went to Mexico, just like I had dreamt. Things were going smoothly at first. Then I started sleeping with other women. I didn't know about her. When the guys tried to defend my adulterous acts Letty screamed at them. The things that both sides said were harsh, fatal even, to the bonds we had. I yelled at her, she yelled at me. I told her I never wanted to see her again. She told me I could go to hell, and that she wasn't keeping the baby." Dominic got silent again, it was a long span of time before he would decide to speak, and when he did his voice was low, rougher.  
  
"I had gotten her pregnant. I hadn't known, and I certainly hadn't meant to. She'd always wanted kids, but she had spoke the truth to me that day. She didn't keep the baby. She'd gone to some clinic down in Mexico and gotten an abortion. Things aren't sanitary down there, and the doctors aren't as well educated as the ones in the states. The abortion destroyed her uterus. She can't have any kids now. She vowed that she would never come back unless it was to ruin my life like I ruined hers." Dominic stood and ran a hand over his head, not realizing the legitimacy of the words he had just spoken to he friends spirit.  
  
Then he looked back down at Romeo's grave speaking with a dangerous conviction in his voice, "I promise I will rescue Tianna from whatever hell she maybe in, and that I will get revenge for both of you. Who ever did this to you better hope that I don't find them. I will though. I will make them pay." He placed a couple of roses on the grave, "I will find her. I will save her. I know she's alive somewhere, I know it. She's going to be okay. She's going to be all right." Dominic turned and started walking back to where he had parked his car, and offer one last vow into the air in one of those tones that would make anyone who knew him run and hide, "But not those bastards who did this to you two." 


	28. 13 Doors of Lunacy

13 Doors of Lunacy  
  
"How strange," Tianna said stepping once again out of the door that closed off her room. The hallway was dark, not the brilliant white she'd expected, and instead of the perfect symmetry, she was confronted with an abstractness that boggled the mind. The walls seemed to concave with a curve, and the doors appeared to crowd each other-- fighting for dominance of the wall. Even the floor was affected, slanting downward and off to the right of her door. "I guess I am to go this way," Tianna spoke to herself glancing down the right side of the space. She shrugged softly then began walking.  
  
The further down the hallway she went the darker things became. The walls seemed to close in on her sides, and it was becoming harder for her to breath. Tianna kept going though, persistent on her quest to find the end of the hallway. At least she was persistent until the floor and ceiling began to squeeze in on her and she was hunched over and squirming just to fit through the space provided for her. She growled and stamped her foot, "I will stand for no more of this!" She turned abruptly, and screamed. The walls and doors were closing in behind her rapidly. Making thunderous noise, and storming towards her like a speeding train. She feared it would not stop and dropped to the floor below with her hands covering her ears.  
  
A moment or two later, she sat up a few inches, as the ceiling would not allow her any higher, and felt around trying to get her bearings as it was now to dark to see anything. Behind her, a wall, above her the ceiling, below her the floor, yes everything was in it's place. Except... She felt to her front, the floor cut down, and then flattened again. Once again it would drop down, and level out, "Stairs? These were not here a moment ago." They were there now however, and despite that they squeezed her in the terrible manner the rest of the hallway had done she pushed forward, crawling in the dark, slowly down the stairs.  
  
The pressure of the ceiling pressing down had begun to become unbearable when Tianna noticed that it was actually lessening. The ceiling was getting higher. However, the stairs grew larger the further up the ceiling went. "Or perhaps I am the one getting smaller," Tianna said when she was at the point where she felt she understood how a toddler must feel when trying to tackle the great feat of climbing the staircase. There were still more stairs to cover though and Tianna was not about to give up.  
  
More time passed, and Tianna was remembering a story she'd once been read about a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb, because that was about how big she felt now, as she hung off the side of what she believed to be her final stair. She looked down and her nose scrunched up in dislike of the situation. "So high up..." She said trying to guess the distance to the floor from where she was, "eight feet I think... though it could be much higher, it really is too dark to tell. I should very much like to be bigger than I am now."  
  
But she wasn't getting any bigger, and her arms were growing tired. So Tianna resolved to let go, all she had to do was actually make her hands let go of the edge. With one last look downward, she released her hold of the giant stair. She screamed as she fell, and fell, until finally her feet hit the cold floor beneath her and she fell back hard against the tile. "Ouch..." She rubbed her head and rolled over onto her stomach. When she looked up she spied a small doorway. Well it would be small if she were her proper size, it was actually fairly large compared to her at the moment. She crawled over to it and stood, then with both her hands on the shiny brass knob she turned it hard, wishing it to open.  
  
The door howled in pain, causing Tianna to jump back with a scream. When she stepped back she swore she saw the keyhole moving as the door spoke rudely to her, "You little twit, don't you know it's rude to go up and twist people's knobs with out knocking first?"  
  
Tianna stood jaw dropped and staring, "You, you are talking to me?" She motioned first to the door then back to herself.  
  
"Yes, it appears I am. Now what are you doing twisting my knob about like that?"  
  
"I wanted to get on the other side. Now, if you'll please just open, I can go on about my business." She walked up to the door and stood firmly with her hands on her hips. The keyhole was about as large as she was and set just off of the floor. It was moving as the door spoke.  
  
"No can do. I'm locked."  
  
"Then unlock yourself and open up."  
  
"Can't. I've got no key."  
  
Tianna may not have a key but she'd thought of another way to get into the place beyond the door. "Mister door, I really must see what's on the other side, would you mind terribly opening your mouth just a little wider so that I might peek through to the other side?"  
  
"Curious are we? Curiosity killed the cat you know."  
  
"I'm no cat, sir."  
  
"Fine then, I see no harm in it," and with that said the door stopped talking and opened it's mouth a little giving a glimpse of a room beyond, filled with sand and familiar smells that Tianna couldn't quite place.  
  
"Just a little wider please, I can't quite see..." Tianna had walked right up to the door and had her hands against the cold, brass edge of the keyhole. The door obliged and the keyhole spread open more. "Perfect!" Tianna exclaimed pulled herself up and into the keyhole, she heard the door try and speak, and felt the keyhole moving about as he tried to, but Tianna was determined to stay her course and began crawling through the keyhole. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to speak with you mouth full? It's rude!"  
  
Tianna dropped down into the room where everything seemed to size it should be. Her bare toes sunk into the hot sand and she wiggled them around as she looked about. "I seem to be my correct size again. I do hope I stay this way." The room was quite large, and burned with a dessert heat, and the sand was rough against her flesh. It smelled of sandalwood and other exotic fragrances she couldn't name. She saw a door on the other side of the room, yet as she crossed over the sands, images began to play across the sky.  
  
There was a dark man, his flesh was the same gold brown of her, and his hair long and black. His eyes were mysterious, black, yet his smile was kind. He spun a child around in his arms and tossed her up into the air. The toddler was laughing and giggling, her chubby cheeks puffed up with air and her blue eyes sparkling. They both looked familiar, but Tianna was at the door and didn't wish to waste anytime getting through. "I wish I knew you. You seemed nice," she spoke as she opened the door and roamed into the next room.  
  
The room was dark compared to the sun filled one she'd just left, she saw a little lamp, and a bed, and try as she might she couldn't quite get over to them, to touch the fabrics, and run her hands over the pillow. They were always just out of her reach. She smelled lavender and a woman appeared, and smiled softly at her as if she knew Tianna. Tianna canted a head to the side curiously, and studied the woman, she was tall and petite, with long blond hair and sky blue eyes. She seemed to just radiate with compassion and love.  
  
Tianna reached out to touch the woman, but found herself violent thrown backwards, her back slamming against the wall across from the bed. A large man had shown up and at first she thought it to be the man from the previous room, but it was not. This man was larger, bulkier, and not even remotely as appealing as the other man. He grabbed the other woman and threw her down onto the bed, and jumped on top of her. The woman screamed but no sound came out. It was as if the man had heard it though and with an intent to silence the woman forever, he grabbed one of those pillows that Tianna and tried desperately to touch moments ago, and covered the woman's face with it.  
  
"He's killing her..." Tianna said breathlessly and tried to run forward but found herself suddenly encased as if in glass. She banged hard against the invisible surface, and shouted as the woman's body thrashed violently under the man's. "Stop it! Stop it! You'll kill her! Stop it, please!"  
  
The woman's body stilled and Tianna slumped down against the glass. The man stood and looked over against the other wall, at something Tianna had not earlier seen. It was a little girl, she looked a little older, but Tianna could swear it was the same girl from the first room. The little girl turned those intense blue eyes toward Tianna and spoke one word. Tianna couldn't hear it, but some how could make it out-- "Mommy?" Tianna was confused, "Who's Mommy?"  
  
"Tianna," a soft voice spoke from behind her and Tianna turned to see Angel standing behind her in front of an open door. "Time to be done with this room." Angel faded back into the room behind her, a small hand beckoning for Tianna to follow.  
  
"Yes, quite time," Tianna said standing slowly, and walking into through the doorway, she was immediately overcome with a great, deep sadness. It hurt her heart to be in this room. Looking around her she saw blue, that was all this room consisted of was varying shades of blue. The lighter shades surrounded her and Angel, and then grew very dark until, in a corner, the lighter blues framed a young girl. She was sitting with her legs under her and her arms resting against her thighs and the floor, her torso was curled over and her face angled downward, her shoulder length black curls shielding her from Tianna's sight.  
  
"Her name is Mary." Angel said quietly, watching the girl, as she lifted the knife in one of her hands and cut a small slice along the soft, fleshy part of her own wrist, "She's sad."  
  
Tianna winced at the sharp pain on her left wrist and when she looked down to it, she saw a line of red, and the sticky liquid oozing out. She looked up suddenly, confused but aware. "But she's..." She didn't finish her sentence as another sharp pain added another shallow cut to her flesh. She tried to stop it, tried to stop the bleeding, by pressing her other hand of her wrist tightly. It didn't stop and this time the pain was felt in her right wrist. "What's happening?" She cried out to the girl child who still watched Mary.  
  
"She's hurting," was the simple reply given.  
  
Tianna crumbled to the floor, tears brimming in her eyes. There were eight bleeding rows on each of her wrists. All opening Tianna up to the pure suffering this girl Mary had been feeling. Tianna watch as the knife dropped with a clatter to the floor beneath and left smudges of red along the pale blue tiles. Then Mary looked up and met Tianna's gaze with sad, blue eyes. The same eyes the girls in the previous room had looked upon her with. "Are they the same?"  
  
"Not exactly," Angel said taking one of Tianna's hands and pulling her lightly, until the girl stood and followed her over to the next door. This one was different than the other doors. It was blue, and blended in with it's surrounding as the other doors had but this one had carvings on it. Tianna couldn't make the images out, but ran her fingers lightly over them before the door open and she walked slowly in, wary of what she might find on the other side.  
  
The room was different from the cold she'd just left behind and it's warmth enveloped her until she was filled with it's invisible touch. "I like this room better," Tianna said walking further into it, waiting to see what was going to happen in this one. She already knew it would be more pleasant than the last rooms, she could just feel it.  
  
"Some how, I thought you might." Angel said but she was walking away, passing through the next door like an apparition.  
  
Tianna tried to follow, but when she tugged on the door knob, the door would not budge even a little. "Angel?" She called out quietly, tugging again on the door. "Why wont it open?" Tianna question taking a few steps back and staring at the door.  
  
"Because, I don't want you to leave just yet."  
  
At the sound of a male's voice she whirled around her eyes focusing instantly on the young man leaning against the wall to her right. He had one leg bent, with the sole of his foot pressed against the wall. His hands were in his pockets, his head was bent down, shadowing his features save for the small glow, and thing trail of smoke coming from the cigarette hanging from his mouth. He was neither the man in she saw after going through the first door, nor was he the man through the second, a dark brow arched on her forehead and she spoke with a cautious tone, "Who... Who are you? Why are you keeping me here?"  
  
The man stood, and tossed his cigarette off to the side, it vanished before it hit the floor, and Tianna wanted to say something, but then the man was walking towards her his gaze forcing her to look into his endless green eyes. They were liquid pools of emerald and looking at her with such intensity Tianna thought she would drown if he did not look away. He stopped in front of her and cradled her bleeding wrists in his hands. He smiled and Tianna softened immediately, it was as if she no longer cared that the door didn't open. "My name is Gavin." His voice was warm like the air in the room, it held her, it filled her.  
  
He bent forward and lifted the wrists to his mouth. He kissed the wounds gently and when he let her wrists drop the wounds were gone except for faint little scars. He wrapped his arms around her then and held her close to him. Tianna felt only then, love and warmth and a safety she had believed to be unimaginable. She didn't want the door to open. She didn't believe any of the rooms could be better than this. A creaking sounded behind her and when she turned to investigate it, she saw the door had opened. She turned back to perhaps look again into those green eyes, but found that the man had gone. "I guess I have no choice but to go through the door then." She sighed softly the made her passage through the door.  
  
The room wasn't dark, but it wasn't well lit by the bulbs hanging over head. She saw the next door directly ahead of her and took a few steps forward her bare feet stepping into a few inches of cold water, and splashing quietly as she walked along. She tried her best to ignore the cold, and keep moving, but then the lights flickered. She paused to look up at the blinking bulbs, then having grown more aware of the electric buzz resounding her mind she rushed forward toward the door. Her hands grabbed the knob, but before it could be twisted open hands grabbed her and pulled her down to her knees in the water. She looked around trying to see these figures but all she could make out were white coats and masks, and the malicious look in the eyes.  
  
There was a popping noise as one by one the bulbs over head broke, and she cried out shielding her eyes from the falling glass. The electric buzz was growing louder, then like lighting, she saw a current of blue slide down the unpainted walls and to the water. She screamed the current rushing straight through her. She scrambled trying to get out of the water, away from the sharp pain. Every time she got close to the door she was pulled back into the water. All she could hear was her own screaming, and the electricity ringing in her ears. She fought violent against the hands that grabbed her finally jerked the door open and stumbled wet and sobbing into the next room.  
  
Tianna moaned her body shaking violently from the effects of the previous room, and she pushed herself up. She forced her jelly-like legs to solidify and looked around the room. The air was thick with hostility, it was hard for her to breath. One side of her a small opening in the floor. She looked down it, but could see no end, "I do not wish to know what's down there," she said then turned to look on her other side. There were no other doors, but there was another girl. She was strapped to the wall, it seemed to be with chains. The bands locked around her wrists and then attached to the wall behind. The girl had the same dark hair as the others had only she appeared a bit older, and those intense blue eyes watched Tianna with such a look, Tianna felt the sharp, familiar stab of fear. The girl just seemed..., "Why are you so mean, Mary?" Tianna asked think it was the same girl in the blue room.  
  
The laughter that erupted from the girl was vicious, sending shivered straight down Tianna's spine, the voice was rough, as malicious as the gazes in the white clad men that had thrown her down into that shocking water. "I am not that pathetic waste of flesh and blood. I am Lilith, the bring of pain and suffering. Come a little closer dear that I might look upon you and see who you are."  
  
Foolishly Tianna stepped closer, and Lilith lunged forward her hands momentarily wrapping around Tianna's slim neck. Tianna screamed and fought free, then in a panicked attempt to get as far from the girl as possible she rushed back, not looking where she was going and plunged straight down into the gap she had earlier decided she did not want to find out about.  
  
Tianna was plunged first into darkness then into pool of dark liquid. It was thick and Tianna could figure swam but could not get herself going in the right direction. She struggled violent her eyes opening in the liquid, forcing her to see what was engulfing her. All she saw was red. She pushed herself up, and with some luck managed to actually get her head above the thick liquid. "Help me please, somebody!" She cried out, it was hard for her to stay above the surface, always feeling as if she were being pulled down into the depth of the liquid. She cried out again, but sank, and the liquid filled her mouth with a sharp coppery taste. She coughed, her whole body rejecting the liquid. "Blood!" She cried out, her eyes spilling forth tears that burned her flesh, "Please! Somebody help!"  
  
Tianna noticed though that her cries were overpowered by the cries in this room. All around her sobbing echoed off of the blood dripping walls. The very walls them selves appeared to be bleeding, as if they were crying tears of blood. Tianna felt a terrible sense of loss, and clutched at her chest to try and ease the pain of her heart being ripped from her body. Of course it hadn't really been torn out, but that's how it felt. She was sinking again, and was bout to give up when she saw an hand stretched out to her. She grabbed it and was pulled up onto a thin ledge. Her chest was heaving her lungs struggling to fill with air.  
  
She looked up into the eyes of her savor for a moment and saw those deep green orbs, and breathlessly spoke the name on her lips, "Gavin," But he was gone suddenly and the girl child, Angel, stood in his place.  
  
She shook her head and pointed behind Tianna, "No, Gavin lays just there behind you."  
  
Tianna turned to see, and saw the crumpled form of that man laying on the ledge. His wrists were slit from palm to elbow in a vertical stripe with, a few horizontal slices along the soft flesh of the inside of his wrist. His eyes were open penetrating deep into Tianna's core but she saw that he was not breath. She cried out and hurriedly turned away. "I don't want to be here, please, just take me away."  
  
Angel open a small door, and walked through it easily, but Tianna had been to large for it's small frame and had to crawl through to get to the other side. The new room was bright, filled with the toys and delights of a young child. Tianna felt severely that she should be prohibited from this room due to her appearance. She was covered head to toe in the vicious red liquid she'd nearly drowned in and was certainly not of the cheerful disposition needed to enjoy this new room.  
  
"Her name is Teeny," Angel said pointed to the small child on the far side of the room, dancing about with her teddy bear, and occasionally dropping it to play with a pink ball. "She is unaffected by the world out side these walls. All she knows are the joys and lovely things of child hood. She enjoys the naiveté of childhood, and still retains the innocence of life. Let's move on quickly, we do not want to corrupt her."  
  
Tianna nodded and followed Angel across the room and to the new doorway. Before stepping through however, she turned back to look at the little girl. The child with her wide blue eyes was holding the ball to her chest and staring directly at Tianna. She was waving good-bye to Tianna. It appeared to be the same child she'd seen earlier. She smiled and offered back a little wave before disappearing into the next room.  
  
Around her hung images of a new man, and Angel was no where to be seen. SO Tianna had no explanation for the dark haired man with the blue eyes. He seemed friendly and Tianna felt connected to him in some way. In all the pictures he seemed to be with a young woman. The images told of a love between them that was deep, but not of the love that lovers had. It was the love a brother and sister might have. She decide that's who this man must be-- the woman's brother. The woman herself was dark haired in some of the images and in others had bright pink hair. But undoubtedly it was the same woman. Tianna thought that she very much looked like the women she'd seen in the other rooms. The further she moved on though, the pictures got darker, she saw scenery speeding by, saw another car coming out from the fog, slamming into the car the man had driven. She'd seen the car explode in images and the man lying impaled on the beaches nearby. She cried for him, and for a long moment she did not see the door right in front of her, but as soon as she became aware of it she rushed through, not wanting to bear the sadness any longer.  
  
As she step into the room she immediately felt withdrawn, held back as if going any further would disturb the air. All around things were frozen mid air, little orbs of glass that reminded her of bubbles, birds flying, cat's stretching, rain falling. Everything was frozen in a sort of suspended animation. Tianna saw Angel standing by the door and as carefully as possible wove her way through the things suspended in the air around her.  
  
"This is what happens when we withdraw from the world around us. Everything freezes when we revert back into ourselves. We don't blink, don't breath, don't feel. Nothing affects us, nothing changes in us. We seem dead, barely surviving. But this happens only when we don't wish to survive, it is a sort of death, an incomplete one, where your body doesn't actually die, but you mind does."  
  
"Can you get out of it?" Tianna asked as she reached Angel's side.  
  
"Sometimes," The girl said and vanished into the next room.  
  
"I wish sometimes, that I hadn't been so curious." Tianna said in a scolding tone to herself and opened the door to discover what waited for her on the other side.  
  
As soon as she stepped into the eleventh of these rooms she'd traveled everything began to rush around her. The walls danced in a blur of neon and bright colors and Tianna's heart sped up and she could practically feel her body forcing the adrenaline into her veins. She was dizzy with the spinning lights and hues. Her ears were flooded with the sounds of engines and music so loud it hurt. Tianna was giddy from the effect of it all, feeling the wind whipping around her tossing her bloodied smock of a dress around her and causing her hair to fly about wildly. She was laughing until she couldn't breath and it stopped suddenly, the abruptness of it nearly bringing Tianna to her knees. The image of a man flashed across her eyes-- large, clean shaven head, hard brown eyes and a soft mouth. When she blinked he was gone and a door stood where the man had once been. She was overcome with a sense of curiosity greater that it had been at the beginning of her journey. He hadn't been like the other men. Who had he been? She rushed over to the door, flung it open and ran through to the other side.  
  
The new room held man images of this man and strewn wildly about the space, cover every inch of the floor walls and ceiling. In truth it was the same image. His thick arms crossed of his expansive chest, a little smile hidden at the corner of his mouth and his brown eyes holding the glimmer of an untold joke. Different sections of this one image made up all the others that covered the room. "But who is he? this doesn't tell me who he is. I want to know who he is, I already know what he looks like, I've seen him already." She spoke to the room as if it would change at her command. "Now, who is he?"  
  
"His name is Dominic."  
  
Tianna turned at the sound of a voice that had recently become familiar. "Gavin... but I saw you dead..."  
  
"We don't have time to talk about that, your journey is nearing it's end and I must get you through the door before it's too late." Gavin had grabbed Tianna by the shoulder and was pushing her toward the already opened door.  
  
"Was that there before...when it's too late? Gavin what happens when it's too late?"  
  
"I don't know, but it's not going to be good if we stay around here to find out." He spun around pulling Tianna now through the door and into a new room. Images played against the wall of the pink haired girl and this man. They were smiling and laughing and dancing. They were driving in cars. Tianna saw him kiss her, and saw them almost kiss dozens of times before that. Then she saw them lying in each other arms. Saw them running from the other man she'd seen with this girl. She wanted to call him Romeo but could for the life of her figure out why.  
  
Tianna walked further into the room eyes wide at the images playing before her. She was overcome with love and happiness and loss all at the same time, but it was hope that touched her the most. New images began playing the girl was dressing, pulling white silk and lace over her golden skin, her hair was black now though, retaining only a few pink streaks. The man was dressed in a back tuxedo. They were getting married. Tianna was overjoyed at the sight of this, more so when she saw them laying again in each others arms. With soft fingertips the man traced scars the woman's back held-- angel wings. Tianna felt as if her own flesh was opening up and bleeding as the man did this. She felt as if the wings were hers and that this new man's touch would be the healing force. The images stopped suddenly, but what about Gavin? Hadn't she felt love with him?  
  
She turned to see him sitting against one of the walls with his legs stretched out and a guitar in his hands. As he plucked away softly at the strings he sang quietly, "If tomorrow never comes, I would want just one thing," He took a breath and continued, "I would tell it to the stars and the sun, I would write it for the world to see." Then he looked up, those green eyes catching Tianna's gaze and burning deep into her soul, "And it's you... the light changes when you enter the room, oh it's you... oh... it's you..." The guitar was set aside and Gavin stood, and took Tianna into his arms.  
  
He leaned his head down a bit and whispered in her ear, his breath brushing against her ear as he whispered to her a simple phrase, "Love him, more than you loved me, everything will be all right, I promise." Then he kissed her, until her lips caught the tears that spilled from beneath closed eyes and burned wet trails down her cheeks.  
  
Angel's voice was soft, but held a conviction as it reached Tianna ears. "It's time to wake up Tianna. It's time to wake up. Open your eyes and remember life." 


	29. One thing yet to be Done

One Thing yet to be Done  
  
The seasons have changed and it was January in Los Angeles. It wasn't cold, southern California rarely ever got cold, but there was a chill in the air around Dominic Toretto. Dominic was cold. He had shut himself off emotionally; he had cut himself off from his friends and family, and his heart was frozen in an ice that could not be melted. He allowed himself only one emotion-- anger. That anger boiled inside of him, stirring around, just waiting for the moment when that anger could be released on that one person, or perhaps persons, most deserving of it's violent wrath.  
  
On this first day of the new year, Dominic found himself once again standing over his friend's grave. The sweater he'd pulled on earlier that morning did him no good for his own cold, and he shoved his shaking hands into his pockets as he began to speak, "I have tried everything Romeo. I do not know what to do. I have done everything that I can think of to find her but there isn't any information on her. The only thing I got from all your papers and files, the ones you kept for the restaurant, was her full name-- Tianna Isis Ammon. Which is a nice start, I thought I'd had something then, but the address you had listed under her name was the address to your apartment.  
  
"There wasn't anything else useful. Her schedules, schematics of her car, the price list of all the varying parts... Her name, Ro, that was the only thing I found that I needed, but even that wasn't useful." He ran a hand over his clean shaven head , and sighed. As he gathered his thoughts he wasn't aware of the woman walking up behind him. "There is nothing on her, Romeo. I'd always said that Jesse can find out anything about anyone, but there isn't anything to find. She doesn't exist. There are no records anywhere on her Ro. I've tried everything..."  
  
Mystic frowned softly, she had come to pay her respects to Romeo, and had come up on Dominic unknowingly. She listened as he spoke, and understood what he'd felt. She smiled as she realized he was in love with her. She could tell he was lost without Tia. "There is one thing you haven't tried," Mystic said as she stepped forward and laid a handful of white roses on Romeo's grave. She said a few words in silence to her departed friend, then looked up to Romeo. "We should go back to your place first. It's not right to talk about such things among the dead."  
  
"Can you help?" Dominic asked quietly, "Can you help me find her?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Dominic drove Mystic back to his house, it wasn't a home with out Tianna, and led her up to his room. "Everything I have on her is in here," Dominic said when he opened the door. Mystic had given him an odd look and he felt the need to clarify why he was taking her to his bedroom.  
  
"Ah, I understand." Mystic stepped over the threshold and looked around, "You want to keep her near to you." She was in awe for a moment as she studied her surroundings. Dominic had always been a very clean person, very tidy, and his room was in chaos. But the closer she looked she realized it was still an organized chaos. The papers he'd gotten from Romeo's apartment had their own pile, and the pictures-- oh the pictures-- were all pinned into the wall that once had nothing on it. It was covered in all the pictures gotten from the shoe box Tia kept. There had been so many that some had been taped to his window. "You found her pictures... She would be glad you have them."  
  
Dominic glanced around, his eyes dropping their shield for a moment to reveal the hurt within him, but just as soon as they had fallen were they back up again. "Yeah... There were a lot of pictures of her and Romeo." Dom walked around his room picking up the dirty clothes he'd dropped on the floor and shoved them into his closet. Then he straightened the papers on the floor, they were left on the floor but at least they were in neat stacks. He sat Indian style on the bed, and then suddenly looked up at Mystic, "Wait how did you know about the pictures?"  
  
"It's a long story, but to give you the nutshell version, I was a typical depressed teenager and spent time with Tia in Rostengburg. She told me about pictures she had. About a couple trinkets in there." She looked around the room, and saw the just mentioned objects sitting on Dominic's dresser. "The car god is new. The ring was the one her father tried to give her mother, and the ankh he gave to Tianna."  
  
"Adian?" Dominic asked, thinking the objects were much to nice, and also that gifts were thoughtful and O'Brien was not a thoughtful man.  
  
Mystic laughed, "No. Her real father. He gave them the gifts before they left Egypt."  
  
"She's Egyptian?"  
  
"Didn't you say you found her full name?" Mystic was wondering around, studying the images, especially the ones in the window, "Tell me, does Isis Ammon sound American to you?" A brow arched as she looked at one of the pictures of a man holding a small child in his arms. The man had dark skin, and hair, and was dressed in a white suit. The ankh pendant hung around his neck. "I didn't know she had pictures of him..."  
  
"Of her dad?"  
  
"Yeah," Mystic pulled the picture of the window and noticed when the light shone through it, words showed through to the front. When she flipped the picture over she saw an address written on the back. A brow furrowed, there was no name for the address, but she assumed it was Tianna's father's. "I'm going to write a letter. It's a long shot, but her dad might still be at the address. He might help. I don't know why Tia and her mom left Egypt, but she and her dad look close in this picture so I'm going to try."  
  
"Was that the thing I haven't tried that you mentioned in the cemetery?" Dominic asked his anger seeping out a little, he felt as if Mystic was skipping around the point, and not telling him what he needed to know.  
  
"No sorry. The only place that has files of Tianna is the once place you haven't gone yet-- Rostengburg. They keep files on all of there patients. The things they write down about one's mentality might not be accurate, but they had addresses. They still have Tianna's journal too I'm sure, and that would be useful even if the files weren't."  
  
"How would her journal be useful?"  
  
"Look around you Dominic, these photographs were how she kept everything. She wrote everything down in that journal, for important stuff, like names and birthdays, and address, to what her favorite color of the day was. If you get that you'll be that much closer to finding out where Adian is going to take her."  
  
"Didn't he already take her though? Off the beach?"  
  
"I don't think so. Now I have a theory, and you are probably not going to like it, but keep in mind it's just a theory." Mystic sat across from Dominic on the bed mimicking the way her was sitting. "I've gathered some pieces together mental, I watch too many cop shows so I like to try and detect things. First the night she went missing from the beach, she would have never gone willing to her dad. I know that she was probably not in much of a position to do any fighting, but a man like O'Brien always makes the news. Someone would have seen him around the area at the time of the accident, and he would've been mentioned on the news. So I was thinking who would it be? Who would Tia go with? It certainly wasn't you or me, or any of the team, we'd have Tianna back if it was." The look Dominic was giving her was making her shift uneasily, but she continued on, "I had to think back, to events that would bring someone besides us in contact with Tia. She wouldn't go with cooperate spies, and the only other person she'd been in contact with was Letty." Mystic held up a hand to silence the comment Dominic looked about to scream at her. "Think about it Dominic even you said Letty would only come back to get revenge and ruin your life. I know she said she wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over with all of us, which would make Tia think Letty was an okay person. But Dominic, Tia bet Letty thirty-five thousand dollars. Letty has never had that kind of money, she's an excellent racer, but she's never had that kind of money. She wouldn't ever be stupid enough to blow it on one race if she did have it, unless-- unless it wasn't hers to begin with. I think Adian paid her off. I think Letty is working for Tia's step father." Mystic sighed softly, then shook her head, as if it had all been a silly thought, "Just think on it for a while Dominic. We have to make plans for tomorrow."  
  
"What's happening tomorrow?"  
  
"Tomorrow you and I are going to break into Rostengburg." 


	30. Talking to Angels

Talking to Angels  
  
"Vince, Leon you keep an eye on the gates. If you see anyone coming or going, especially that man and his shiny black Porsche give us the heads up. Jesse, stay in the car and keep an eye on the monitors. Once you get into their camera system page us once, then keep us updated on anyone near the records room."  
  
"Can do Boss." Jesse said already starting the process of breaking into the Rostengburg security monitors.  
  
"Dom, you sure you want to go through with this?" Vince asked. He had faith in his friend but worried about them getting caught, breaking and entering, then theft, those were some heavy charges that Dominic would not need held against him.  
  
"I have to save her, V. If the only way to find out where that bastard of a step father lives is to steal files from this hell hole, then yeah, I'm sure I want to do it." Dominic pulled on the black back-pack he brought to put the files in, and then turned to Mystic, "You're sure you know where to find this stuff?"  
  
"Positive, Gavin and I used to break into the files all the time to see what they were writing about Tianna, and to see what drugs they were using on her." She frowned at her mention of Gavin, she had no intention of telling that story, so she moved on. "The only thing I'm worried about is whether or not you'll be light enough to crawl through the ceilings."  
  
"I'll manage." Dominic pulled on the gloves that would block his finger tips then he grabbed a hold of the links of the chain fence surround the property.  
  
"I guess that means move out." Mystic said with a smirk, and began to follow Dominic.  
  
"Hey Mystic!" Leon called after the woman as she dropped down behind the fence after Dominic, "Be careful okay?"  
  
"Sure thing honey."  
  
"Watch where you step Dominic, the ceiling isn't very sturdy and could drop out from beneath us at any moment." Mystic said as they crawled the space above the ceiling along side the air ducts.  
  
"That's so encouraging." Dominic tried to laugh it was meant to be a funny comment, but he just wasn't feeling very humorous.  
  
"Shh, were above the room." Mystic removed one of the ceiling tiles and looked down into the room below. It was dark, and wreaked of the scent of anesthetics.  
  
"All right I'm in guys. If I might take a moment to say these people have shit for security, there aren't even guards in the security office." Jesse's voice sounded over the walkie-talkie, "Anyway, coast is clear guys, there isn't anyone in your wing of the building."  
  
"All right, Jesse, good job." Dominic said, and watched as Mystic dropped down through the roof and into the records room below. Once she was out of the way, Dom followed, landing lightly on the tile. "We're in your territory now, lead the way."  
  
Mystic was digging around in a desk, and suddenly slammed one of the doors shut and cursed, "Shit! They moved the key..." She took a deep breath, and grabbed a pair of scissors then walked over to the filing cabinet. She tugged on the first drawer labels A through D. "Yep, locked." She ran her fingers over the key hole, it was oddly positioned at the top of the drawer. "Look like they still use the cheap locks though," She commented as the shoved the scissors into the little gap between the drawer and the frame, and pushed hard to the left, breaking the lock. She set the scissors on top of the cabinet and pulled the door open. The locks were simple like the kind on floppy disk storage case, just a little hook over a little piece of metal. "Flashlight."  
  
Dominic was slightly amazed at the laziness of the lock and the security. The doctors were either really arrogant and stupid or just didn't care if anyone broke in to their files. He didn't care, as long as they got Tianna's files nothing else mattered. He stood over Mystic aiming the beam of light on the files she was quickly shuffling through. "Is that it?" He asked when she pulled out a thick file and shoved the drawer shut.  
  
Mystic thumbed through the pages, "Yes, and it's all here, her legal guardian-- Adian, his address phone numbers. Everything they ever treated her with, or diagnosed her with... most of which is bullshit, or only true because the drugs they pumped her full of fucked her over. Oh my god..."  
  
"What? What is it?" Dominic tried to see what Mystic was reading, but she kept turning pages, and he couldn't tell which words she was looking at.  
  
"These are all new..." She said absently.  
  
"Meaning what exactly? You have to be a little more specific. I know a lot about cars and racing, but I know nothing about mental hospitals and files, except that the doctors here suck."  
  
"Dominic, it means she's here. The admittance date says she was committed again on the fifteenth of June. That was the night Romeo died. There's no release date, Dominic she's still here." Mystic looked up at Dominic as she flipped to a photograph of Tianna from that night, with the stitches closing up her wounds, and all cut and bruised from the crash. Before the man with raging eyes could react though, the light bulb above them, which had been off, surged with light then popped glass falling to the floor.  
  
"Dom, I don't know what is going on but all the cameras are cutting off, it looks like a power surge." Jesse's voice sounded over the walkie- talkie. "You better get out of there now."  
  
The lights were flickering out side the room as if the power was draining from the building and a loud electrical buzz reverberated through the walls. Mystic pulled the back-pack off Dominic's shoulders and shoved the file into one of the pockets. "Get up there now." She commanded but as Dominic was climbing on to the desk to pull himself back into the ceiling space a scream of pure pain and anguish echoed through the halls and room. "Oh no..." Mystic murmured and turned her head to the door.  
  
"Tia..." Dominic ran to the door fighting as Mystic tried to pull him away and push him back. "Tia!" Dominic yelled, he knew it was her, he had to get to her. "Let go! They're killing her damnit! I have to help her!"  
  
"You can't help her!" Mystic screamed at Dominic and smacked him hard in the face. "There is nothing you can do for her while she's in this place. The best thing you can do for her is have some faith in her ability to survive and wait until she's back with Adian. Then you play hero, but not now. If you do it now you'll loose any chance of getting her back because you will be back in jail rotting your life away wondering what would have happened if you didn't rush into it stupidly." Dominic had stopped fighting, and Mystic glared at him. "She will die if you don't get out of this building and back into that car of yours." Mystic looked past Dominic and saw there, sitting in the chair behind the desk, a little girl. Blond, with a precocious gaze. She shook her head, and pushed Dominic back. "I have to find her journal, you go. I'll be out shortly."  
  
Dominic reluctantly turn and climbed onto the desk, Mystic watched as the little girl glanced up to Dominic but he didn't appear to see her. He just climbed up into the ceiling and made his way back out of the building. When the girl turned her gaze back to Mystic she spoke in a tone that was all too familiar to Tianna, and distantly familiar to Mystic. "The journal is in the cage, with his guitar. You should take them both. She would want them."  
  
"I'm not talking to you. As soon as I do, you stay in my head and you wont go away." Mystic growled out but she did turn to the cage, it was like a closet, storage unit, more than a cage. The patients belongings were kept within. She tugged on the door and it opened right up, the doctors hadn't locked it back after last using it. She dug around in a box, and found Tianna's journal. She stuffed it in her bag, then turned to shut the door. She paused though looked at an old guitar with a worn strap and thought about leaving it.  
  
"You know she'd want it." The girl child said again.  
  
"Shut up." Mystic hissed, then reached back into the cage and grabbed the guitar. She turned furiously toward the child and glared venomously, "I suppose you're going to tell me I should take his files too?"  
  
"Yes actually," the girl smiled, "but I thought you weren't going to talk to me."  
  
Mystic didn't say anything, just ran quickly over to the filing cabinet as the scream that had died out grew in her ears again. The scissors were once again used to break the lock of the drawer. This one had been marked E through H. She thumbed through the files and pulled at one equally as thick as Tianna's that was labeled ilFalco. The new file was crammed into her bag, and quickly, as she didn't want to wait for the girl to speak again she climbed back into the ceiling and as quickly as possible made her way out of the building.  
  
"What they hell is all that?" Dominic asked as Mystic climbed over the fence, and instead of just a back pack, had a guitar hung around her shoulders as well.  
  
When her feet hit the ground she turned, "Things she would want. I got the files, and the journal. Don't worry about the rest of it. Now let's go." Before anyone could further question her she placed the objects in the back seat of Leon's yellow Skyline and climbed into the front seat. She wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible, and as fast as possible. It wasn't healthy for her to be at Rostengburg. It wasn't healthy for anyone, she thought, praying that Tianna would survive like she had survived before. She prayed that Tianna would be all right and win Dominic played hero, that he would come out the winner. 


	31. Four Pages and a Letter

Four Pages and a Letter  
  
Dominic glanced over at the alarm clock sitting on his dresser; it was almost five in the morning. He couldn't sleep. In fact, he really hadn't been able to sleep at all since Tianna was taken from him. His eyes shifted slightly, and focused on the dark square beside the clock. He just stared at it for a moment, wondering if he should get up and read it-- it was the journal Mystic had gotten for him from Rostengburg, it was Tia's journal. Dominic stood and crossed through the dark over to the dresser. His hand lingered a breath above the journal for a long space of time before he finally relented and picked up the worn journal. He carried the book back over to his bed and once he got comfortable again he opened to the first entry. At first he couldn't make out the words and had to give his eyes a moment to adjust and then read by the light filtering in through his bedroom window.  
  
March 13, Friday  
  
It's my birthday today. I'm eleven. Nobody remembered. The cops came to my house today, I was told that they were taking me away. I'm at a place called Rostengburg. They men in white coats said it was my new home. As long as Adian isn't here, I guess that's okay. I made friends today, they are both older than me. Mystic is like fourteen, and Gavin is sixteen. Mystic said she's been living here for about a month, that her parents sent her here, and that she misses her boyfriend. Gavin said he was naughty, and his parents sent him here because he caught some building on fire. He said he'd been there since he was twelve.  
  
I really like them. They are my best friends. I've never had friends before.  
  
Dominic looked up in thought, "Eleven? I thought she said she was thirteen." He quickly did the math in his head, and was a little more than shocked, "That's six years. God, she spent six years in that place. I wonder what happened to make her forget..." Probably a lot, he said in his mind. Probably a lot. He flipped to another page in the journal that wasn't quite at the middle, but was dated on her birthday, then began to read again.  
  
March 13, Monday  
  
Today I'm fourteen. I hate being here, Rostengburg sucks. At least they're better than living in that house with my step-father. And plus, Gavin's here. Mystic wrote me a letter. She said her boyfriend said hi. I don't remember meeting him. But I have Gavin. He takes care of me. I got really, really sick, and I was just feeling icy, but Gavin stayed with me the whole time. The doctors brought me soup, they brought Gavin soup too, but he made me eat his. He said the doctors put something in my soup to make me more sick. The doctors aren't very nice people. They try to keep Gavin and me apart. Gavin doesn't stay away though. He crawls through the roof, and just drops down into my room. He's silly. He protects me to. When the doctors are trying to give me medicine or shots of this oozy blue goo, he beat up a doctor. That's why they locked him in his room. But it's my birthday today! So the doctors are letting Gavin play on his guitar for me. He said he'd teach me how to play, he thinks I'd be good. I think I'll marry him.  
  
Dominic tried not to be hurt from that last sentence. She'd loved this guy. She had wanted to marry him. He felt for a moment just like second best. Dominic sighed, he knew better though, you could fall in love a dozen times before you found the right one. He had thought Letty was the right one, but now he knew that he had been wrong. Now there was Tia. He loved her and he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. He might have to beat the shit out of a few people to make sure that happened, but he would give Tianna the happy ever after he knew she deserved. He flipped through the pages again, this time raising a brow when he saw hand writing that differed greatly from Tianna's. He had actually flipped past it at first, and had to turn back when the difference struck him.  
  
September 9th  
  
I could kill those doctors for what they've done to her. There was nothing wrong with my Anna when she was committed, but now-- now, after all of the drug laced food they've given her the serum injections, the treatments... the shock treatments. They've caused her to split. It's like she's four completely different people. There's my Anna. The way she should be. The was she was when she came, the way she is with me. Then there was Mary. Mary is all the sadness in Anna magnified by one hundred. Mary is set on death, her death. She slit her wrists, sixteen times, eight on each arm. She lost a lot of blood. She almost died. Then there was Lilith. I almost liked Lilith. She was all of Anna's anger and aggression. One poor doctor thought he could sedate her with an injection. The amount of sedative he was going to put into Anna. was enough to put done an elephant. However, Lilith would have none of it, and when the doctor came close enough the ripped the needle from the man's hand and shoved it into his neck. That was why I kind of like Lilith, but, then Lilith didn't like anyone else, and I have the scars to prove it. Lastly, Teeny showed her self. Teeny is the child in Anna, the innocence. She was just a bundle of pure, naiveté, and trust, who knew nothing of evil and the maliciousness of people. That was who she was for nearly a half a year. She came out after a shock treatment, that really should have killed Anna. Now though, now I am truly worried about my Anna. She's been in a deep lethargic state. She reacts to nothing, does nothing, she doesn't even seem to breath, or blink. I wonder if she will wake from this or if I've finally lost my Anna.  
  
Gavin  
  
Dominic didn't know what to think. Tianna had been given enough drugs and treatments to give her multiple personalities. He thought of the night of their date when she'd told him of her scars. He asked who Lilith, Mary, and Teeny were and she'd said it was a long, not terribly important story. He hated the doctors for what they put her through. If he had his way he would break them all into tiny, itty-bitty, little pieces. He had grown slightly curious of what happened to Gavin. Whatever it was a small part of him was glad because that meant Tianna could be with him, but Tianna never mentioned him. or when she did she never finished what she was saying. So it had to have had a huge impact on Tia, and it had probably hurt. He turned to the very last page in journal, and after a quick glance to his clock, the sun was starting to come up, he red the short passage.  
  
April 1, Wednesday  
  
I am a fool-- for ever thinking I'd be able to keep him forever. He's dead. Killed himself, because I... I don't know why. I knew something was wrong the night he did it. I was screaming, and banging on the door for them to let, them out, and they finally did, but I didn't make it to him in time. He was already on his last breaths, laying in a puddle of his own blood. He told me he loved me, told me not to cry for him because he wanted to remember me without tears in my eyes. He said he'd always watch over me, and that he'd make sure everything would be all right, and that he'd always be around, even if I didn't see him. He told me he wanted to make sure I got to heaven, because my step father and these doctors were going to try and drag me down to hell with them. He said I'd always been his sanity, his Angel. I said for that to be true I'd need wings. So with the razor he had used to end his life, he drew wings into my back. His blood was still on it, so I'll always have a little bit of him in me. He's dead.  
  
Dominic closed the book, and laid back in his bed. Well, there were the couple puzzle pieces he had been missing for the puzzle that was Tia. He understood why she never spoke of him, because it did hurt. Because she did love him. Because she lost the only protection she had known. He understood the wings now, and though he personal would have never marred the girl's flesh, it was the only option the man believe to be available. Dominic pulled the pillow over his face to block the sunlight beginning to show through his window, and forced himself to sleep.  
  
Mystic slid the letter into the post office box and walked back to her car. She'd written a letter to Tianna's father. Telling him what had happened to his daughter and what was going on in her life over the past months. She prayed silently that he was still at that address, and if he wasn't that the letter some how found it's way to him. She didn't know his name, so she'd written on the front above the address, 'To the Father of Tianna Ammon' "Please get the letter, please, please, please. You need to know what's going on with your flesh and blood. You might be able to help. Please, just get the letter."  
  
"Yeah?" Mia answered the phone at the Cafe. She wasn't open just yet and the team only called when they needed her to do something. So, she hadn't done her whole "Thank you for calling, how may I help you?" bit.  
  
"Hey Mia, it's Letty."  
  
"I know who it is." Mia said, the anger showing in her voice. She had her own personal reasons for being upset with Letty. She didn't even know about Mystic's theory.  
  
"Mia please don't be bitter. That was all in the past. I just want to talk to you."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"A lot of things. Mia please, can't we just be friends again for a little while. A couple hours in the desert. You know where we used to hang out."  
  
"Fine," Mia said rolling her eyes, Letty sounded pathetic, and she figured it couldn't hurt anything to spend a few hours with the girl who had once been her closest friend, "Pick me up tomorrow morning. Around ten. I'll be here." The phone was hung up, before Letty was given the chance to speak. If Letty wanted to hang out she would have to do it on Mia's terms. 


	32. A Childhood Hangout

A Childhood Hangout  
  
Mia took a deep breath as she watched Letty's maroon Nissan pull into the parking lot. It was five after ten, Letty was late, but then again, Mia hadn't really expected her to show up. Mia was dressed rather inappropriately for a trip to the desert, in black jeans and tank top, with a bulky black leather jacket she'd stolen from Brian. "You're late."  
  
"I'm sorry, girl." Letty climbed out of her car in what was typical Letty fashion-- black flame boots, baggy pants, and a little tank top that showed her bra. "Are you ready to go? It's been a long time since we've talked, I'm looking forward to getting to it."  
  
"Yeah, it's been a long time since we've been to the ravine," Mia's voice held a friendly tone, that masked the anger she really had toward Letty. The fight she'd started with Tianna at the race had pissed her off. She and Tia had talked about it, and unlike Dominic seemed to, Mia remembered Letty's threat of revenge and felt she had come back just to stir up dust. Despite that though she climbed into the passengers seat of the Nissan, and smiled at Letty when she started up the car.  
  
As they drove Mia began to notice subtle things wrong with the image of Letty's car. It was all those cop shows Brian made her watch, she had learned to pick up on little clues, little mistakes in appearance. First it was the sand in the floor board. There was only a little, like it had been swept out, but there were still visible grains left. Then it was the splotches of darkness in her seat and on the cloth covered panels of the door. They had been harder to see as she interior of the car was already a dark purple, but Mia knew those spots didn't belong. Then there was Letty, she was being fidgety. Mia said nothing, and neither did Letty, the would be at their child hangout soon.  
  
"So how's Dom been?" Letty asked as she and Mia exited the car, and began walking over the dust terrain to the ravine that they used to hang out at when they were in school. It was about a half hour hike from where they had parked.  
  
"Well he was doing good," Mia said as she followed Letty up the 'mini mountain' as they used to call it. Despite the dark attire which absorbed all the light and heat, she did remember to where boots, so she would be able to grip on to the rough surface of the boulders and rocks they were climbing over. "He raced, he won, he worked on car, drank Corona, dated a couple skanks. Don't worry they didn't mean anything," Mia added when Letty turned to give her a questioning look.  
  
"So this pink haired chick is one of those skanks." Letty said more than she asked, and helped Mia down off of their little mountain, which was really, now that Letty looked at it, just a tremendous rock, that took less time to climb over than to walk around.  
  
"Woo, been a long time since I have had to do that." Mia exclaimed as her feet hit the ground, she turned to look her companion for the day in the eyes, "No, she's not just one of those skanks. She's where Dominic went from being just good, to being great. I have never seen him happier." The words were said a little pointedly, to emphasize that, her comment, had included when Letty dated Dominic.  
  
"All right, so what's so special about her?" Letty had caught the comment, and instead of saying something nasty to Mia she just turned and started walking again. The sun was on their backs, and the heat was slowly feeling much hotter.  
  
"He loves her. She has something in her that Dominic is lost with out. She was really spunky, and I think he liked that. Plus she was something he'd never had before. She had her secrets, and her life story, and in two or three days I think she loved him enough to tell it all to him. I don't know all the details of those secrets, Dominic didn't tell me that. He told me very little, just enough to give me an understanding, of the woman he wanted to marry."  
  
They walked further along in silence and soon were side by side. Letty was contemplating what she'd just heard, analyzing it in her mind. O'Brien had made Tianna out to be a filthy, horrid person, with mental problems, and a history of being a pathological liar. Letty didn't really care about the girl. All she knew was, this girl was with Dominic, and Adian was willing to pay her a large sum of money to get her back. She paused again, "Wait a second, wanted to Marry? As in not anymore?"  
  
"He's not taking you back Letty." When the smaller woman's eyes narrowed, Mia smiled softly and continued, "No, he still wants to marry her. She's been missing since the night Romeo's car crashed. You heard about that didn't you? It was all over the news. They think it was murder, but anyway, They found Ro, dead... but they didn't find Tia, just a bloody trail leading away from the accident. We think her step father had something to do with it. She ran away from him, but apparently he was so determined to get her back that he got someone to kidnap her and take her away somewhere. Dominic is heart broken. It's like he's empty with out her. One of his closest friends is dead, and you know that's hard on him after Mommy and Daddy, and then when Jesse and Vince almost died. Now Ro is dead, and the love of his life, the one that could have lasted forever, she's gone too."  
  
They finally reached the ravine where they used to sit and talk for hours years ago. It was more of a deep hole really, you couldn't see the bottom, and there really wasn't anyway to get out it you managed to get in. They'd lots all sorts of toys. They lost a puppy too, they hadn't been carefully and he just chased right after his ball. It was sad. Little white flowers had grown wild all around the open, they were Narcissus flowers. "I'm really sorry for your losses Mia. I'm sorry for all the hateful things that were said in Mexico, and all the problems I caused before the team split up. I'm sorry for coming back, and starting that fight with Tia, I was jealous. I didn't think she deserved Dominic. I'm sorry Adian took Tia of to Rostengburg, and I am truly sorry for Romeo's death." Letty had been looking down at the ravine, not at Mia, until she heard a distinct metal click behind her head, and turned to investigate it. Needless to say she was more than a little shocked to see Mia holding a gun up to her forehead.  
  
"How could you?" Mia's voice was dangerously low. It was the genetic Toretto temper that rarely ever showed in this girl. "I know he hurt you, but that gives you no right to take away what he loves." Mia pushed a little closer, causing Letty to move back a couple steps. At the woman's confused look she continued, "I never told you her step father's name Letty. I never told you she was in Rostengburg. You knew that all on your own. How could you work for that man, Letty! How could you do that to Dominic, to Tia?! You didn't even know her, and she could be dead now because of you." Again Mia pushed forward, and again Letty step back. "Romeo is dead because of you. You had to have been the one that ran them off the side of the cliff, because you were the one to pick her up. You had to have been. Tia wouldn't have gone with her father, and you didn't clean her blood out of your car. Yeah I saw it, and the sand in the carpet. Her blood is on your hands."  
  
Letty stared down the barrel of the hand gun aimed at her, just ready to go off. It was kind of funny, she knew she should feel bad, she even felt like she should cry, but it's amazing the kind of wall lustful revenge will build. "You're not going to shoot me Mia. You don't have it in you." Letty said her voice was cold, emotionless. It didn't hold the least, little bit of regret for her actions.  
  
"I'm sorry..." Mia said quietly, releasing her hold on the gun, and letting it drop down into the dirt below. "I took the gun from Brian, he had it in the night stand." She looked down at the ground as if ashamed of her actions. "You're right Letty; I can't shoot you."  
  
"I knew it." Letty relaxed a little now that the gun was no longer in Mia's hands.  
  
"However," Mia said before turning angry eyes up to Letty, "I did learn something, from Tia."  
  
"Yeah, and what's that?" Letty asked. Her answer was a swift, hard punch in the nose. It surprised her enough, and actually had enough force to knock her back. She fell, and desperately she grabbed onto the edge of the rock that made up the ravine with one hand. She couldn't get her hand to keep a hold, and every time she got both hands on the edge one would slip, the rock crumbling beneath her grasp. "Mia! Help me please! I'm sorry I did those things, I'm sorry!"  
  
Mia knelt down over Letty, and spoke in cold tone, "Do you think 'I'm sorry' brings Romeo back? Or Tianna? Do you think 'I'm sorry' fixes it?" Mia shook her head lightly then stood, "Good-bye, Letty." Then she stood, and licked the gun lightly so it slid down into the ravine.  
  
"Mia?" Letty called out, as the woman turned her back, and began walking off. "Mia, please don't leave me! Mia! I'm sorry..." Letty had more to say but the rock crumbled beneath her hands and she couldn't get her grasp back. She tumbled, screaming down into the ravine, and when her body finally hit the ground below, an nauseating crunch echoed off the enclosed space.  
  
Mia had stopped when the screamed had abruptly ended. She took a deep breath, as tears slipped from her dark brown eyes, she kept on walking. There was no looking back. She climbed back into Letty's car when she got back to it and climbed into the driver's seat. Mia removed the spare key out of the glove compartment, and started the engine. 


	33. Last Day in Rostengburg

Last Day in Rostengburg  
  
Tianna woke with a start, just had a dreamed where she'd been drowned in a bath tub. Her head felt as if it had been split open, it hurt so badly. However, as Tianna became aware of the pain in her head, she also became aware of the tight pressure around her wrists and ankles-- and of the shallow body of water she was submerged in. Her eyes slid open, and though one was very sore, they both focused on the two figures standing above her. They were dressed in white coats and had masks covering their mouths.  
  
She remembered. She was in Rostengburg now, and though she had no idea for how long, she knew Romeo was dead. Oh god, he was dead. Tianna couldn't cry, wouldn't allow the doctors the pleasure of that. She tried to remember more. She'd been on the beach, trying to find help for her dead brother. Someone had picked her up. Who was it? Tianna pushed past the barriers the drugs had created in her mind. It was that woman, the one Dominic had dated, Letty. Yes... No! That meant she was working for her step father. Fuck. Tianna prayed that Dominic hadn't decided to trust her again. After that all she knew was that she'd been in Rostengburg, that she'd seen Gavin, and been through all the portals of hell. Now, now though she was awake, and aware, and very, very angry.  
  
Tianna struggled violently against the straps that held her down in the water. They tightened with each movement of hers, but she did not stop, even when she could no longer feel her hands. Not even when the only thing was her blood throbbing in her wrists trying to reach her fingers. She tried to scream, but she'd been gagged with a horse bit, and her mouth covered with a leather gag, no allowing sound to escape. She reacted in a way a wild animal might. She struggled, and growled. She fought and her eyes shot forth the curses her mouth couldn't.  
  
"Mart, I do believe she's come around." A familiar woman's voice had said. The woman had mouse brown hair, and gray eyes.  
  
The man laughed cruelly, "Yes it does appear that way. It also seems, that she knows exactly where she is."  
  
"And what's going to happen to her."  
  
"Yes we'd best treat her now and bee done with it," the man had a maniacal gleam in his blue eyes, and his blonde hair was slicked back away from his face, "he'll be wanting her placid, at least until he gets her home. I think then he'd rather enjoy her fighting." Tianna stilled when they had started talking of a 'he' and the man looked down to the young woman, "That's right. Your dear father will be picking you up this evening to take you back home."  
  
Tianna shook her head furiously, and pulled, and fought against the restraints. She couldn't go back to him, she couldn't. Her heart race had picked up so quickly it had hurt, and when she saw the male doctor reach down for a knob that was just above her head, her chest began heaving with short panicked breaths. She heard him turn the knob, the metallic clicking was loud in the water that came up over her ears. She saw the lights flickered above her, then all went black as her eyes squeezed shut and all she felt was that near death voltage tearing ruinously through her body.  
  
"You have to be strong. You have to fight. You have to be strong for him. That is the only way to get back to him."  
  
Tianna's eyes snapped open and focused on the little, blond haired child standing before her. She blinked as she was looking up at the girl, and it took her a moment to realize she was curled up on a damp mess on the floor of the padded room. She had to be strong for him? For who? And then with out hesitation her mind produced the answer, "Dominic."  
  
"Is she ready?"  
  
"Yes Mister O'Brien. The treatment went very well. Tianna has been quiet in her room every since."  
  
"Excellent, will you get her for me please." As the doctor began to walk off to get his step-daughter Aidan called after him, "And Mart, make sure she's well drugged. Wouldn't want her waking up and causing a big scene on the way home now would we?"  
  
"No sir, not at all sir." Mart bowed out, clearly intimidated by the powerful man.  
  
Mart unlocked the door to Tianna's room, and let out a sigh of relief when he saw her leaning in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest. He'd thought there would be more of a fight when he came in. As it stood though, she seemed unresponsive. She didn't look at him when he entered, didn't blink, and barely appeared to be breathing. This was going to be easier than he thought. "Time to go home, Tianna. Just a few hundred milligrams," Mart said in reference to the sedative he was drawing up into the syringe, "and then you can be on your way back home.  
  
The needle neared the flesh of her wrist, which is where the doctor had most frequently given Tianna her shots, but before the needle could break the flesh Tianna's right hand shot forward, and gripped the man's own wrist so tightly he almost dropped the needle. "I wouldn't have gotten that close if I were you," Tianna's voice was dangerously low, and carried a tone that was uncommonly hostile.  
  
"Lilith?" Mart questioned, his voice wavering.  
  
"Wrong." Tianna struck the doctor hard in the face with a sharp left hook, and when the syringe dropped to the floor she snatched it up and before the doctor could scramble out of the room or call for help, that needle was thrust into the man's jugular. She hadn't bothered to tap out the air bubbles, and sincerely hoped that the man died because out it. She never knew how the air bubbles killed, but she knew they did.  
  
Tianna jumped up, and swiftly kicked the man in the face, before running out of her room and into the hallway. "Right," she started to go right, the stopped and looked back, "Left?" She remembered her dreams suddenly, they did have some significance. When she went right, everything was bright and pretty, but she was still in the institutions, but when she went left, she had to go through the maze of doors but the out come had been freedom-- the outcome had been Dominic. "Left," Tianna decided and ran down the hallway.  
  
"Hey! Stop!" The woman doctor grabbed Tianna by the shoulders and jerked her back. Her attempt to restrain Tianna failed when the pink haired woman's fist slammed into the soft spot between her ribs, connecting with her diaphragm, and knocking all the wind out of her. She collapsed to the cold tile, and her eyes focused on the bare feet running away from her.  
  
Tianna screamed, when she saw the flash of the large fist about to connect with her temple. It didn't stop the act and Tianna was flung to the side with the force of it. She groaned and tried to sit up, only to be forced down hard against the floor. "You had to go and cause a scene didn't you, baby?" That was what Tianna heard through the throbbing pain in her head, and the sharp pierce of a needle breaking flesh.  
  
Tianna couldn't struggle as her hands were bound, and she was carried outside. The sun blinded her as it reflected of the black of the Porsche, and the windows, as the door was opened and she was placed down into the passenger's seat and buckled in. After the door was shut she slumped against the window and tried to regain control of her body, tried to force the sedatives out of her body.  
  
Tia watched the passing buildings as they drove along. Places looked familiar, and Tianna began to realize that Aidan was taking her past the places on purpose. There was Romeo's restaurant, it was dark and empty. She thought she saw Magnus standing outside, and looking in through the windows. Then there was the DT car garage, and The Racer's Edge. She stirred subtly in her seat. Then was the corner store-- Toretto's Market and Cafe. "Dom..." She whispered softly.  
  
"He wont be coming to your rescue, baby. He wont be able to find you." The man's voice was malicious and his laughter showed the blackness of his heart.  
  
Tianna sat up her hands, pressed against the tinted glass. The were about to pass Dominic's house. "Dominic..." She said breathlessly, and struggled lightly against her restraints, she thought she could see him in the window of his room, she could see him. She struggled harder, her hands pulling at the car door handle and fighting against the seat belt. She beat against the door, and her hand slammed down on the button that rolled her window down enough for her face to be partially seen. It was then that she took the opportunity to force all her strength and breath into screaming, "Dominic!" Domin--" The second time she tried though a large hand, with a fistful of her hair, threw her forward, slamming her forehead into the black leather dash board, and knocking her out. 


	34. A Man and His Thoughts

A Man and His Thoughts  
  
"Dominic!"  
  
Dom's eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly in his bed. He tossed his comforter to the floor and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans. Charging down the stairs and out the front door he ran out into his yard and down into the street. He only saw the empty stretch of black pavement that led to the horizon. He growled, he had heard it hadn't he? It had been Tianna's voice, he knew it. He walked back into the house greeted by the curiosity filled gaze of his sister.  
  
"He has her." Dominic said his voice low, "I know he has her. I heard her, Mia. I'd just laid down, and I heard her scream my name. I heard her." His eyes betrayed the disbelief he felt. He could swear that he had heard Tianna, but he didn't have any proof. He could have been dreaming, he just didn't know. But he could swear...  
  
Mia didn't get a chance to comment, all she could do was watch has her brother slowly climbed the stairs back to his room. He had pretty much confined himself in there after she came back from her trip to the desert. When he had seen Letty's car, he had pulled his shot gun out and kept it targeted on the driver's side. He had obviously had his own theories about Letty's involvement in Ro's death and Tianna's ending up in Rostengburg. He had asked her where Letty was. "She's dead." How? "She tripped." She knew he wasn't wasting any time mourning the woman's death, more the loss of information. Letty could have been able to tell them exactly where Tia's step father lived. Mia sighed; she knew it wouldn't have worked out that way.  
  
In his bedroom Dominic stood, just looking at the pictures that covered his walls. Little images of what he had lost. Little reminders that he had promises to keep. Little snap shots of love to come. He was lost to the thoughts that filled his head. First it was just lovely day dreams, of the time after he had rescued Tianna. He could see them together, just laying in each others arms, talking quietly about their wedding, and the two weeks of the honeymoon. He could see her full with child, with long black hair framing her face. He laughed as he imagined that life would not domesticate her like that. Even when she had his child, he could see her still racing, still building cars, still painting them. He could see her passing it on to their child.  
  
Then he sighed softly, those were just imaginings. What if he couldn't save her? What if he broke his promises? If life made him a liar, then he wouldn't be able to live with him self. He stretched out onto of his bed, and put his hands under his head. What would life be with out Tia? Empty. Lonely. Unfulfilling. He'd be dead, even if not literally. There wouldn't be the excitement. He believed he'd still race, but that no matter how much he did it, it wouldn't be the same. He couldn't see himself with anyone else. Dominic didn't believe there could be anyone else. He wouldn't have any children. God, he didn't realize how much he wanted a child, how great it would be. It would be bigger than any adrenaline kick a race could give. Without Tia though-- he couldn't see it. She filled his life now. Without he, Dom would probably just lay in his room staring at pictures of her. Just like he was now, thinking of all that might have been, if only he had saved her.  
  
Dominic growled and grabbed the nearest object to throw across the room. It had been her journal, and after it hit the wall it landed on a pile of papers, causing a couple to slid from the top. The pages revealed caught Dominic's attention when he had gone to pick up the journal. It was an address. At first he thought it would be useless just like everything else he had learned. Then he completely moved the top few papers covering it. Aidan O'Brien, legal guardian of Tianna Ammon. That's what it read above the address. Dominic couldn't help but smile a little. He knew where the bastard lived now.  
  
Dominic's heart told him to jump in the car and go save her now. It told him to go rescue his Princess from the ogre that kept her locked away. His head, however, told him that he couldn't go just yet. Aidan would be expecting something. No he had to wait a few days. He didn't want to, but he knew he had to catch Aidan, when his defense was lowered. He needed a plan. He need someone to drive, because when he rescued Tia he knew she likely wouldn't be in a position to move on her own, and he didn't want to waste precious escape time, in getting everyone in their own seats. Especially not when he could just situate himself in his own seat, and hold her. It would take less time to keep her in his lap, and his protective arms, than to get her seat in her own seat. He also needed to decide how to kill that ass hole for hurting Tia. Bad guys always get their comeuppance. 


	35. Under Victory's Impression

Under Victory's Impression  
  
Aidan lounged in his office. His feet were propped up on the polished desktop and his hands were behind his head. The smile on his face was one of victory. He thought he was a winner. He'd hunted down his rebellious step child, put her back into that mental hospital as a temporary punishment for running. Besides, he had been in Italy, it's not like he could have taken her with him on that business trip. He laughed lightly, then, then he'd taken her from Rostengburg, and drove her past all the things she almost had. He threw his head back and laughed menacingly. She had screamed for him. She had screamed for that man. Now, locked in the basement, she didn't make a noise. She didn't struggle. No, he made sure she couldn't. Aidan had bound her spread eagle between to pillars. He had tied her wrists and ankles with barbed wire. If Tianna chose to struggle the wire would cut deeper, and deeper, into her flesh, making her bleed crimson regret for thinking she could run from him.  
  
"Mr. O'Brien, may I come in?" Today the bottle blonde rapped lightly on the solid, oak doors, and peaked her head just through a slight opening.  
  
"Certainly. Please come have a seat," Aidan beckoned her to enter, and his blue eyes raked hungrily, over the woman.  
  
"I just wanted to see how you were doing, now that you've got your lovely daughter back." Bambi sat in one of the chairs across from Aidan's desk, tugging down the edge of her short blue skirt so that it covered the lace tops of her tan thigh highs.  
  
"I'm doing splendidly, Bambi. Thank you for asking." Aidan removed his feet from his desk and leaned lightly across the dark wood as he spoke with his secretary.  
  
"I'm so glad. However," the woman started holding a finger up as if that one action ended all the small talk. "There is one problem."  
  
Aidan frowned, "What is it?"  
  
"The woman, Letty, she's missing. Do you think she's joined back up with Toretto?"  
  
Aidan thought for a moment. Now that would be interesting, seeing the woman switch sides like that. If she tried though, Aidan doubted Toretto would accept her, especially after she had said herself that Dominic and Tianna had grown very close. What would Letty do? Tell them she ran Romeo off the road and killed him, then taken Tianna to the mental hospital so her evil step father could have her to do with as he pleases? No he had other ideas, "She's probably dead, Miss Manny. Shame too, lost a great deal of my money in a race against my daughter."  
  
"You think she's dead?" Miss Manny almost sounded appalled-- almost.  
  
"I do. I think Toretto, or one of his little friends probably killed her."  
  
"Shouldn't we report it?"  
  
"No. You know, I don't think any one is going to miss that vengeful woman. I wouldn't waste the nice police men's time with a murder that no one even cares about. I would've liked to have my money back before they did it though."  
  
The woman laughed, "Is money all you care about, Aidan?"  
  
"Of course not. I also care about my company, my imported liquor, my car," Aidan smile at Bambi, and continued, "I also care about sex, and the woman who gives it to me whenever I want. Then there's getting my daughter, of course. Though I will have to punish her for running away like that."  
  
"To make sure she doesn't do it again, and worry you so much?"  
  
"Exactly." 


	36. One, Little, Reminder

One, Little, Reminder  
  
In a large house with a view of the great pyramids that sat on the Nile river a tall, dark man stepped on his porch. He was dressed in white cotton pants and shirt, and his feet were bare as they carried him across the hot sand to his mail box. The sand had chipped the numbers that had been painted on the side, it did that over the years, it was a natural thing. Now it just meant one more thing for him to have to do later. The box was opened and the contents pulled out. The box lid was shut and the man moved back into his home while reading the fronts of the envelopes. Bills, letters from his clients, lots of them. He sighed being a lawyer did have it's disadvantages, he got all these letters and calls from people he didn't really want to help. They always asked him to be the middle man in personal affairs, divorces, child care, and other such things that he hated doing. The only time he really enjoyed being a lawyer was when he was defending the children of bad parents. He always regretted having his own daughter taken away from him. He'd always viewed it as his fault, like he was the bad parent. So he always found good homes for the neglected children.  
  
He flipped through a couple more of the envelopes. More bills, a check from a client, an invitation to some business party, then there was a light purple envelope that caught his attention most. It was addressed to the father of Tianna Ammon. All the other envelopes were tossed off to the side once he entered the house. It was about his daughter. Was it from Angelique? No it couldn't be, she would've written his name, plus the hand writing wasn't hers. Maybe it was from Tianna. Maybe she didn't know his name, Angelique probably never told that to Tianna. Fingers were pushed back through his shoulder length black hair and he exhaled the breath he had been holding since he read the front of the letter-- he was stalling. He was having a hard time conjuring up the courage to open the lilac envelope.  
  
With a deep breath he took the hawk head letter opener off his desk and careful cut the envelope open, then pulled the lined paper out and read:  
  
I don't have time to sugar coat any of this for you. I'm a friend of your daughters. She is in a lot of trouble right now. A lot. To give you her life in a nutshell her mother is dead. That bastard of a step father killed her. He neglected Tianna, he beat her, and he raped her. He locked her in a mental institution when she was eleven, that's where I met her. Please note, that I'm not crazy, I was just a fucked up teenage. But there was nothing wrong with Tianna, except you know, perhaps being scarred from watching her mother being murder and having a step father like Aidan. He left Tianna in that institution for six years, she was seventeen when they finally released her back into Aidan's custody. Back to more beatings, more raping, more abuse. Her life isn't all dark though. She tried to escape, lived with a man who had been like a brother to her. He took care of her as much as he could. She made friends, she worked in a restaurant where she was loved by the staff and had regular customers that refused to be waited on by anyone else, especially Magnus. He kept trying to marry her, but I imaging he's probably a lot older than you, so you can imaging she said no. She also built and painted street cars for racing, and yes, she did race too. That's where she met Dominic. I think they were in love the day they met. She raced him and won. It was her first race, we were all very proud. Then the cops came, she ran, they chased her. Dominic came to her rescue, when she was shot. He fixed her up, and they spent more time falling in love.  
  
Things always look better before they get worse, though. Aidan found her. He hired a woman to get close to them, so that she could bring Tianna back to him. She ran Romeo's car off a cliff. She managed to survive, but Romeo, that's her brother, he died. Then that woman took Tianna back to the institution. When they let her out, Aidan is going to have her again. He's going to kill her. That's why she ran, she knew one day it would get so bad he would kill her. Her running away is sure to have sped up that process.  
  
Your daughter is in a lot of trouble. I don't know if you still care, or what happened to separate you from her. If you still, or ever, loved her. Please come. I don't know if you'll be able to help. But if you could just come, you might be able to do some good. Even if Dominic isn't able to save her, at least you could speak at her funeral. I'm sure she would like that. She misses you, I know. She still had pictures of you.  
  
Angry fists balled the letter up, and the man cursed. He remembered Aidan, had met him once. The man had been on a business trip. He couldn't believe that Angelique had left him to marry that man. Now that man had his daughter. He was not going to stand for it. The man walked over to the phone, and laid the letter down. He dialed a few numbers, and as he held the receiver to is ear with his shoulder he smoothed the wrinkles from the paper. There was an address written at the bottom. "Yes, Milan, this is Osirus Ammon, I need a plane ticket for Los Angeles California. No, Tonight, today... right now is better. Just get me the ticket Milan, and get it fast." 


	37. Suffering Pain

Suffering Pain  
  
Tianna heard Aidan coming long before he even made it to the basement stairs. She didn't open her eyes. She didn't need to see him to know he was standing in front of her. She could smell him, could hear his breath, and feel it hot against her flesh. Seeing what he did made it worse, that's why Aidan liked to make her watch the things he did to her. She'd been down in the basement for about three days she guessed. She spent the first part of it knocked out, the second day she struggled against the wire that bound her and quickly decided that struggling wasn't in her best interest. So the rest of day two and three had been spent using all her other senses to try and figure out what was going on. Aidan had left her alone, except for when he brought her water. He didn't want her dehydrating and dying on him. At least not until he had, had his fun.  
  
She heard the faint creak of wire as he tightened it around the posts, could feel the blood oozing from her wrists and down her arms. She even felt droplets forming on her toes. He thought she was asleep, but she could hear him getting ready. It was beginning. Metal scraped against metal. He'd had his knives on a metal tray near her left side. Army knives, razors, he also had a gun, she could hear him checking the clip, there was something else though that she couldn't make out by sound, but didn't want to open her eyes to see. Tianna wondered if she had it in her to be strong this time, this time would be worse than all of the things Aidan ever did to her put together. How did she know? Well that was an easy answer. She couldn't smell the alcohol on him, he wasn't drunk. He was sober, and often times that could be worse than him intoxicated.  
  
"Tianna," Aidan called quietly to the woman hanging before him. When she didn't answer, or even stir he drew his hand back, and smacked her hard across the face. "Wake up bitch." He smiled when her breath hissed out from between her teeth. His action had caused her whole body to jerk, which in turn, caused the barbed wire to dig deeper into her flesh. "Good Evening, baby. Did you sleep well?" He asked in a tone that could make women who did know melt, but made Tianna want to vomit.  
  
"Best night's sleep I ever got, Aidan." Tianna had resolved to be strong, to no give Aidan what he wanted. She knew he wanted her crying and whimpering, screaming and begging him to stop. Wasn't happening. She refused to regret any sarcastic remarks that came out of her, she decided as his hand came up to connect hard with her face again. Her fingers wrapped around the wire that bound her wrists, in a failed effort to keep the metal from quivering and digging its way under her skin.  
  
"I must not be doing my job then. Don't worry though, baby. I am going to keep you up all night." Aidan grabbed Tia's face rough with one and forced her to meet his gaze, but her eyes squeezed shut. "Look at me." He smiled when the eyes opened slowly. His smiled quickly changed to a scowl, "What a nasty look to be giving you're father."  
  
"You are not my father." Tianna growled out, her jaw hurt from the pressure he was using, she could feel her flesh bruising under his finger tips. She had to get him to let go, had to make him let go. Acting on a quick thought, Tia jerked her head to the side and while it didn't make Aidan let go it did change his hands position so that it lingered just over her mouth. Continuing on that though she sunk her teeth hard into the flesh between his thumb and fore finger.  
  
Aidan cried out and wrenched his hand free of her teeth. He felt his skin tear. "Bitch!" That same hand was balled into a tight fist and slammed it hard into the side of Tianna's face. He watched with a smirk as her body shook violently and the wire pierced smaller veins and the bright red spilled over her arms, and began forming a small puddle under the feet that were just inches off the floor.  
  
Tianna cursed silently. Part of her wished that if she gave him what he wanted he would stop, but knowing it wouldn't she figured she would continue to try and make the whole experience as dissatisfying as possible for him. She turned her head to the side, and spit. The spittle coming out red with her blood and his, when he bled in her mouth before jerking free. Then she looked up at the man, and in cold, blue eyes she let her spirit shine through. He would not be able to break her. She had a pillar of strength to draw from. She had someone who loved her, and had all the faith in the world invested in him to save her.  
  
"You think you're tough, baby?" Aidan growled out threateningly, his hand wrapping around the handle of a smaller knife. "I will make you scream."  
  
"I will never scream for you." Her voice was steeled as if proving her strength in that tone. She didn't even blink when Aidan held the three and a half inch blade close to her face.  
  
"You seem to have forgotten. I've made you scream before Tianna. I've had you on the floor begging for mercy. You seem to have forgotten how you got all of these scars, maybe... just maybe, I should remind you."  
  
He wanted her to shake her head at him and get teary eyed and scream, no! But she just smiled softly, her lip bleeding in the corner from where he hit her moments earlier, "Maybe you should. Come on," she goaded, "remind me how much of a sick fuck you are."  
  
Aidan hand flicked out and dragged the blade multiple times over Tianna's flesh, opening a few of the scars along her abdomen. "Remember these? You broke the front window." Aidan slid the blade slowly across the rest of the scars obtained at that time until Tia's whole body tensed. She wiped the blade clean on her bare breast. "Or did you forget?"  
  
"I remember you breaking the window, when you threw me through it you bastard." Tianna's sarcastic comment, was squeezed out through clenched teeth. She felt her heart rate pick up, which caused the blood to spill faster through the tiny cuts on her torso. She refused to cry though, she ignored the pain as best as she could.  
  
Aidan's temper was rising rapidly, and he stroked a hand through her loose pink tresses, before grabbing a handful of them and jerking her head to the side. "Oh Tia... You have got to learn when to behave. Oh what's this?" Aidan dragged the tip of the knife down across the scar by her ear, "I didn't give you this one." He let the knife slide lightly under her eye, not breaking skin, letting it rest on her cheek bone as he asked, "Not screaming yet, baby?"  
  
"No." Tianna winced has the black was flicked across her flesh leaving a trail of red perfectly centered beneath her pupil. Still she did not cry. Still she did not scream. "You're going to have to try harder than that to make me let out so much as a gasp for you." She laughed her voice low. She kept laughing even when that left hand released her and smacked her again in the face.  
  
Aidan stepped around behind Tianna, tugging gently on the barbed wire once he got there, smiling in the little hiss of breath he heard. Fine let her be strong now, he wasn't done yet. No, he had hardly just started. He ran his fingers again through those long locks, before pulling it taught, jerking her head back and causing her body to arch painfully, and pull against the wire wrapped around her wrists. He tossed the small knife back on the tray, and pulling her hair more as he did, he moved to grab the large knife. He cut her hair sawing it off by sections with the serrated spine of the blade.  
  
When the hair fell away the two angel wing scars on her back were revealed. "My, my, baby? Who thought they could save you?" He reached around the front of her and grabbed her roughly by one breast before leaning down and pressing his face against her bleeding cheek, "Mister Toretto maybe? No I don't think he'd mar your pretty little skin one bit. So maybe it was that Romeo fellow... no I don't think he was sick enough to do something quite like that. You know who that leaves, baby? That pathetic, piece of waste in the institution. Did he do it after he slit his wrists? Did he caress you while he did it?" Aidan's and roughly stroked of her breast, and abdomen, before his finger drove down through the nest of black curls between Tianna's legs and speared her with two fingers, and pushing her up roughly. "Did he go inside you as he cut your flesh?" Aidan's fingers stroked inside Tianna, as the knife traced a crimson path over the wings, "Does this feel familiar?"  
  
Tianna's body was shaking, the tears were filling her eyes, but still she refused to let them fall, she growled angrily, and fought to get free of her step father's fingers. "Don't you dare speak of them, you fucker. Romeo was a good man, who's dead now because of you. Gavin never did more than kiss me, and you're right Dominic would never hurt me. Quite the contrary in fact, he's going to find me. And when he does he's going to beat the shit out of you."  
  
"I doubt he'll find you. There aren't any records that prove you would be at the house. Romeo wouldn't be dead, if you hadn't run away. It's all your fault he's dead, baby. And that Gavin kid. He's dead because of the doctors I talked to. They put him on so many drugs all he could do was act out. How do you think he got the razor to slit his wrist, baby?" Aidan moved back around to the front of Tianna. He watched her as she processed what he'd just told her, and while he did, he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it free from his pants waist line. His hands slid down over her back pressing her hard against the bulge in his slacks. He nuzzled her neck and whispered into her ear, now he was goading her, "That's right, baby, I was the reason your Gavin died. Come on, cry. Reminded me how weak you really are."  
  
Tianna's body shook she tried to pull away from him, but all she could think of was how Aidan was right. If she hadn't run away, she would have never been in the car With Romeo, and he would have never been run off the road. He'd still be alive if it wasn't for her. And Gavin... Oh god, her father and given the orders to put him on the drugs that fucked him up, he'd told them to give him the razor. He killed Gavin. Her body shook violently as she choked back a sob, and the tears began spilling down her face, burning a hot trail of her smooth flesh, and stinging as the saline drove through the cut on her cheek.  
  
"That's my baby girl. Cry." Aidan licked a path over the trail of tears, tasting the sweat, and salt, and essence from her body. One of his hands moved to work the button on his waist line open and tug his zipper down. He pushed, the slacks kicking his legs so that the linen pants and his cotton boxers dropped down over his patent leather shoes and around his ankles. "I'm going to make you scream."  
  
Tianna's eyes narrowed, and despite the tears she wasn't yet broken, "Not if I make you scream first," she said just after he had whispered that last comment in her ear. Directly after she bit down into the cheek he'd left exposed her . He jerked back and a hand came up to rub the circle of red she left on his face.  
  
"You will scream," Aidan rushed Tianna, and before she had a chance to react his left hand grabbed a fistful of what was left of her hair, and jerk her head back and held it so she couldn't even move it. Then with his other hand grabbing roughly the flesh of her backside, he drove deep into her. Pounding forcefully into her over, and over again.  
  
As he raped her Tianna struggled, the barbed wire dug so deep into her flesh, that if she could look she wouldn't see the metal only her torn flesh around it. She fought, pulling violently against he grasp and her wire bindings. This just made Aidan laugh and drive into her deeper and harder, his hand slid up from her rear, to dig finger tips painfully into the reopened wounds on her shoulder blades. When she felt his fingers in her bleeding flesh she did finally scream.  
  
That scream sent Aidan over the edge and he slammed into her violently as he came into her tight body. He kept ramming into her, until he had thoroughly emptied himself. Then after pleasing himself he stepped back and pulled his pants and boxers back up around his waist. "I told you I would get you to scream." Aidan said cockily. "Perhaps now you'll behave like a good little girl and do what I tell you to."  
  
"Perhaps you can go skull fuck yourself with a hot iron poker." Tianna's head was angled down slightly, but those ice blue eyes turned up to Aidan with a furious gaze. Apparently this comment had plucked Aidan's last nerve, because this time when he hit her he didn't stop. His fist connected multiple times with both sides of her face, and her abdomen. She felt her ribs crack. Then he kneed her in the abdomen, his knee cap connecting firmly with her diaphragm, knocking the wind out of her. She felt as if her throat had collapsed. It was almost the worst pain she'd ever experienced not being able to breath.  
  
"How about I just fuck you with a hot iron poker, baby?" Aidan said challengingly and then headed for the stairs lead back upstairs. He climbed a few steps then turned back to The battered woman, "Or did you forget about that scar?" Aidan laughed, "I haven't forgotten. I think I'll go upstairs and start a nice fire in the fire place. I'll be back down with the poker is nice and red." With that one warming issued Aidan head up the stairs turning the basement light off and shutting the door behind himself, leaving Tia alone in the darkness with a painful expectation. 


	38. Promises Kept

Promises Kept  
  
"Can I help you?" Mia asked through the screen door of her hose. She eyed the man cautiously, she thought he seemed familiar, like she had seen him some where before, but not well enough to just invite him on into the house. The man's black hair was pulled back, but falling from the elastic that held it. He was tall, had dark skin and eyes, and was dressed nicely in a white button down shirt and gray slacks.  
  
"I do hope so. I received a letter yesterday from a young woman concerning my daughter. The address she gave to me was this one, but she didn't tell me who I was to speak with about Tianna." Osirus had a black bag slung over his shoulder, he had only packed an extra change of cloths and some of his documents as proof of being a lawyer. Just in case.  
  
Mia's eyes went wide quickly, then narrowed, after all that had happened she didn't know if she could trust this man to be telling the truth. "Who sent you the letter?"  
  
"She wrote that her name was Mystic." Osirus offered a gentle smile, he knew he was a stranger to this woman, and was patient with all her questions.  
  
Mia seemed to think on this a moment, "And who are you?"  
  
"Osirus Ra Ammon, at your service." The man bowed softly, and smiled up at the young woman behind the door.  
  
"You're her dad." Mia finally said.  
  
"Yes I am." Osirus chuckled softly, and stuck his hands in the pockets of his slacks.  
  
Mia kept her gaze on the man outside the door, but angled her head to the side and she yelled very loudly back into the house, "Dominic!" There was no reply, "Dom! You want to see this!"  
  
Finally Dominic came down the stairs, there was an oak baseball bat in his hand and his shotgun in the other, "I have somewhere to be Mia, what is it?" Dominic was dressed in loose fitted tan pants, and a black shirt with the sleeves torn off. His car keys were dangling from one of his fingers, as proof that he was about to go off and do something brave and stupid.  
  
"Dominic, it's Tia's dad." Mia said quietly, as she pushed the screen door open, and then leaned against it, holding the door open. She just watched as the two men studied each other.  
  
"What the fuck do you want?" Dominic jumped to conclusions about the man in front of him. He needed someone to blame for Tia ending up with Aidan, and if this man was her father, then he worked as a fine place to put the blame. The shotgun was propped against his shoulder, and the bat hung down along his side. He purposely tried to look intimidating.  
  
"I'm a lawyer sir, you may as well stop trying to stare me down like a bull dog."  
  
Dominic laughed," Ha! You must be related to Tia, you both have the same bold, ain't scared of shit, bravery."  
  
"Well this young woman here did just tell you I was her father right? Or did I hear wrong?" The tone in Osirus' voice was sharp, used to pluck at nerves.  
  
"Yeah, she is definitely related to you. I recognize that tone a little too well." Dominic let out a breath and got serious, "So what are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to help. If I can. I had no idea my daughter was in this kind of situation, or I would've have taken her back to Egypt a long time ago."  
  
"Can you drive American cars?"  
  
"Yes, sir, I can."  
  
"Then you can help. Come on," Dominic tossed the keys to the man and walked down the porch stairs and down to his black Charger.  
  
"Where are we going?" The man asked following, after he handed Mia his bag and walked around the car to the driver's side.  
  
"To save your daughter," Dominic said simply sitting down in the passengers side and laying the shot gun and bat behind his seat.  
  
Osirus climbed into his seat and started the car up, then he turned to Dominic, "You're Toretto aren't you?"  
  
"You've heard about me?"  
  
"You were mentioned in the letter I received." Osirus grinned slightly, then pushed his foot down on the gas and drove on. He turned where Dominic said, stopped when he said stop, went when he said go. And he was surprised when they slowly pulled up a long driveway an hour later and some distance from the city, and he saw the small, house with the faded, peeling paint, and collapsing front porch. "You sure this is the place?"  
  
"That's the address from the file," Dominic answered pointing to the numbers on the front of one of the porches pillars.  
  
"What file?" Osirus asked shutting off the Charger's engine.  
  
"The one I stole from Rostengburg," Dom answered pulling the shot gun from behind the seat and handing it to Osirus. "I'm going to try not to kill the bastard, don't need to get sent to jail you know. I wouldn't be able to protect Tia from behind bars."  
  
"I am a lawyer you know, and I could make sure you don't get sent to jail." Osirus said with a wicked grin. He wanted Aidan dead just as much as the next person.  
  
Dominic laughed, "True, but it still would be quite as gratifying as beating the shit out of him. All right I'm going, as soon as I come back out of that front door, you start the car. Got it?"  
  
"Got it, and if he follows shoot him?"  
  
"Exactly." Dominic grabbed the bat from behind his seat, and climbed out of the car. He walked with a casual pace up to the front door, avoiding the hole in on of the stairs. He rested the bat against his right shoulder, and knocked loudly on the front door. He arched a brow when dust and paint fell from the frame. The guy was really just a filthy pig.  
  
"What the fuck do you want? I'm busy." Aidan said as he opened the door. He stood four inches taller than Dominic, and was built about the same. His blue eyes focused on the man with the bat, he didn't recognize him as the same man from the pictures Miss Manny had given him back when they'd hired Letty.  
  
"Busy? With Tianna perhaps?" Dominic asked, he had both hands wrapped around the neck of the bat. His voice had been deadly calm when he spoke.  
  
"As a matter of fact, yes, if it's any of your business."  
  
"As a matter of fact," Dominic said mockingly, before slamming the bat down into Aidan's knee cap, "it is my business you fucker."  
  
"Shit!" Aidan stumbled back and fell into the small coffee table. "I'm calling the cops you freak!" Aidan made a grab for the phone on the nearby table, but Dominic smashed it once Aidan's hand was on it, the phone, as well as many of the bones in Aidan's hand, were broken with the force. Aidan cursed again and struggled to stand, leaning on the torn up couch and pulling himself up. "Who the fuck are you?"  
  
"Dominic Toretto." Dom slammed the bat into Aidan's ribs, he heard a crack, then cocked the bat back, "You had one of my closest friends killed." The bat was slammed again into the man's ribs, the sound of another rib breaking echoed quietly off the house walls. "You took the woman I love from me. You beat her, you raped her, you killed her mother, you sent her to a mental institution, you were a very bad father figure." With each word practically, Dominic slammed the wooden bat into Aidan's body until the other man couldn't help but crumble to the ground.  
  
"If you kill me, they'll take you to jail, and then how are you going to protect your precious whore?" Aidan tried to stand, and still so confidant of his power over people he'd made the arrogant comment to Dominic thing it would make the man stop.  
  
"That's why I'm not going to kill you." Dominic gave a nasty, little smirk, and waited for the look of comprehension in the man's eyes before slamming the bat again into his knees, breaking them. He pounded his hands, and ribs, the finally tossed the bat off to the side, only to find himself lunging at the man and punching the man over and over in the face. He didn't stop till he couldn't feel his arm and the man was unconscious. "Bastard." Dominic said and stood.  
  
Dominic searched all of the first floor, and found nothing, except rooms that were empty of Tianna. The only sign of anything feminine had be the pale pink dress hanging in the bedroom closet. It seemed like it would be loose against the skin, and made of crushed velvet, so it wouldn't agitate any wounds Tia might have. He kept in his grasp as he walked through the house. He saw a door off to the side of the kitchen and when he opened it he saw a set of stairs leading down into black. He felt around on the side of the wall and flipped the switch, lights flicker down below. He followed the stairs down, and had to cover his mouth to keep from crying out, or vomiting. "Oh my god..."  
  
He rushed over to the woman still strung up with wire between the two posts in the basement. He laid the dress across the table, and reached out to cradle Tia's face, "Tia? Princess? Wake up..." There wasn't even the slightest response. Dominic's hand dropped down and he placed two fingers over her jugular, there was a pulse, weak but it was there. She was alive, barely. Dominic searched frantically around, and found a pair of wire cutters on a table with bloodied knives and an iron poker. Dominic tried not to think of all the things that had been done to his princess, tried to focus on how to save her.  
  
He rushed back over to Tianna, and wrapped his arms around her waist support her slight frame, as the other hand reached up and cut the wire binding her left hand. He wouldn't be able to take the wire out of her wounds. He switched hands, and cut the other arm free. Then, while still supporting her, he knelt down, wincing when he heard flesh tear free of many of the scabs that had formed as her body bent, and fresh blood oozed form old cuts. As quickly as possible he cut her ankles free, and tossed the wire cutter aside. He reached out and tugged the dress he'd found off the table and pulled it gently down over Tianna's naked, broken body. Carefully, after he slipped her arms through the thin straps of the dress he stood, standing her up with an arm supporting her around her shoulders. Dominic bent down just enough to get his other arm behind her knees, and then he lifted all her weight into his arms and carried her up and through the house.  
  
Osirus was leaning out the window shot gun trained on the front door, he was almost praying that Aidan walked out, just so he could shoot the bastard for anything he had done to Tianna. Instead though the vision he saw cause him to drop the gun, back into the car, and drop his jaw as well. Dominic carrying the broken body of his daughter. Blood covered most of her skin, leaving very little dark gold flesh showing through. He could see the black of bruises in the areas that didn't have blood. Her body was limp, arms hanging down. He'd recognized the dress Dominic had put her in immediately-- it had been Angelique's. As Dominic neared, Osirus slid down into the car and started the engine up. He leaned across the seat and pushed Dominic's door open.  
  
When Dominic sat and cradled Tianna's body in his arms Osirus saw as the blood seeped through the velvet of the dress, and could see where the barbed wire was still embedded deeply in his daughter's wrists and ankle. "Is she?" Osirus question so quietly it was hard to hear over the engine's purr.  
  
"She's alive, but she wont be for much longer if we don't get her to hospital now." Dominic's voice carried a mournful sadness to it. He had only half way rescued her. If she died, he failed, if she lived he will have succeeded. But at least he did keep his promises, at least as well as he could.  
  
He promised her he'd always protect her, and though he didn't do as well with that as he would have liked, she was safe in his arms now. He promised he would always be with her, and he had no intentions of ever leaving her side again. He had promised to beta down all that frightened or hurt her, and judging by the bloodied, unconscious man still laying in the middle of the living room, he thought he kept that one pretty well. Now all that was left was to be strong for her, to have faith in her ability to survive. She was strong... she would survive.  
  
"Do you think she'll be all right?" Dominic found himself asking the man who drove him around to the front of the hospital doors. "Do you think she'll be okay in there? With those doctors?"  
  
"As long as you're there to watch over her-- I'm sure she could survive anything." 


	39. Dominic Cries

Dominic Cries  
  
It had been nearly three months since Dominic pulled Tianna out of that house. Three months-- and she was still unconscious in the hospital bed. Many of her bruises had completely healed, they'd taken all her stitches out. The doctors had told him exactly how many stitches Tia had, but he couldn't remember the number exactly-- just that it was an obscene amount. She had almost died, from blood loss, so Osirus had been able to help. He had the same blood type as his daughter. Dominic was forever grateful. That simple transfusion of blood kept Tianna from dying.  
  
Still though, she didn't open her eyes. She didn't see that Dominic had not left her side since she was admitted into the hospital. The sight of her was almost nauseating when added to the smell and taste of anesthetic on the air. Tubes and wires and machines, all hooked up to Tianna's body. The cold, pale color of her flesh, her limp, lifeless hair. The shallow sound her breathing made, the slow throb of her pulse in perfect time with the neon green line flashing on one of the computer screens, the image was only surpassed by that of Tianna strung up like a piece of meat in Aidan's basement.  
  
Dominic leaned forward, his elbows propped against the side of the bed, his hand resting on his forehead. The other hand ran over that small black growth of hair and then settled lightly over Tianna's hand. "Hey Princess..." Dominic spoke lightly. "When are you going to wake up for me? Should I try kissing you? Are you going to play this thing out like Sleeping Beauty did?" Dominic managed a low chuckle, then let the hand on his forehead slid down over the stubble along his face to cradle Tia's hand in both of his. "You have got to wake up for me. I'm being as strong as I can for you, but I don't think it's doing any good. Aidan's gone, so you don't have to even think about him anymore. You've got people waiting to see your pretty eyes again too, and I don't meant me, I am waiting but there are people besides me waiting for you." Dominic didn't know why he was stumbling over the words, it's not like she was answering back, or even listening really. He didn't even know if she could hear him.  
  
"You dad for one. Mystic wrote him a letter, and he came the very day after he got it so he could see you, so he could help save you from that mean step father of yours," Dominic had wanted to use another word to describe Aidan, but he felt that it was inappropriate to use language like that around the unconscious, and in a hospital. "He did to. He helped. He drove the Charger while I was getting you, and that's not a very big part, but when we got to the hospital he practically saved your life. The doctors said you had a rare blood type, and because he was your dad, he had it too, so when you need blood he gave it to you." Dom raised a brow as he thought of something, "That kind of makes you sound like a vampire doesn't it? A good vampire though, one you would want to have around forever and ever."  
  
"Mystic and the rest of the team want to see you too. Especially Vince, he comes into the check on me all the time, but I know he's really coming to see if you're awake yet, if you're getting any better. It's kind of funny really. How many times did you punch him? You even bit him, and I think he's still the most anxious about you." Dominic smiled softly as if Tianna could see, "After me of course. I have stayed right by your side the whole time, Princess. Except a couple hours a week when the team drags me back to the house to take a shower and change my clothes, shave, just clean up. The doctors always try and make me leave, especially the ones who weren't here the first night. That first night they tried to physical pull me out of the room, I'm ashamed to say that didn't go very well, and I behaved very badly. I wasn't about to leave you alone in this place.  
  
"The food here sucks though, Tianna. Be grateful at least that not being awake means you don't have to eat the crap they're trying to feed me. I think I've lived on Cherry Jell-O for three months. If I never taste or see anything resembling a cherry, it will be too soon." Dominic sighed and let his gaze slid around the room to look at all the different monitors, and gadgets they had hooked up to Tianna, "The doctors told me you'd only be in intensive care for a week or two tops, but you're still in critical condition according to them. They come in almost hourly to do one test or another and check your vitals. They say you might not wake up. That you could be in a coma for... a long time."  
  
He glanced up at one of the monitors and saw the numbers in the side rapidly dropping, and the little blips in the neon green life growing further apart. Both were very bad signs. "Oh god, no, Tianna don't you die, don't you dare," Dominic scolded jumping up so fast that he knocked his chair back. His hand wrapped around the pager, and pushed the little red button on it six times, summoning the doctors quickly to the room.  
  
The room became a blur of excitement, as the doctors rushed in and surrounded Tianna. They pushed him out of the way he thought he heard them yell at him to leave, but all he could see or hear was the high pitched sound, of an unending beep, and the perfectly level, flat green line. He thought he heard screaming but couldn't see Tia's mouth moving. He felt hands pulling at him, tugging his shirt and arms. He didn't see Vince until he was out of Tianna's room, and in the hallway.  
  
His sister and Jesse were sitting in chairs across the hall, Mia was crying, her hands covering her mouth. Jesse had his arms around her. Brian was kneeling on the floor in front of her, his mouth was moving but Dominic couldn't hear the words. Leon and Mystic was standing near by, both of them looking at Dominic. Mystic's eyes were glassy with the tears in them, but not a drop fell. All Dominic could hear was the electronic sound of death, everything else was blocked out. When he looked around, and his vision blurred over, all he saw was gray-- the color was lost.  
  
Dominic slid down the wall beside the door to Tianna's room, he's knees were pulled up against his chest and as Vince wrapped his arms around him, the tears slipped from Dom's eyes. He fought against them, his body heaving as he tried to choke down the tears, but he just could not stop the flow. Tianna was dying, or dead, he didn't know, all he knew was the doctors had been in there for a long time and they hadn't come out to say that she was all right. His princess wasn't going to wake up. He had failed, she was dead because he couldn't keep his promises. He was crying so hard he couldn't breath, his chest burned because he wasn't taking in enough hair. He felt like he was going to die. He wanted to die-- with out her he wouldn't be able to live any way, so why not die?  
  
A scream pierced through the silence and Dominic rushed back into the room, stumbling over his friend and his own feet to get back in the room. He saw the doctors struggling to restrain the woman's body, as she jerked away from them and violently ripped all the wires and tubes from her body. She scrambled away from them in a panic and fell of the edge of the bed. Then seeming to not notice the impact she kept crawling away, until she'd backed herself into the corner of the room. These doctors, all the people in white coats approached her and she looked at them with wild eyes. her mouth formed words but her voice came out in a scratch of a whisper. Dominic had taken a few strides forward, he couldn't believe it.  
  
Then Tianna finally got sound to come out of her mouth. It came out loud and furious, and full of fear, "You get the fuck away from me! All of you just leave me alone! get away from me!" Tears were spilling from her wide crystal eyes, " Dominic!!" She screamed out for the only protection she could think of.  
  
Dominic rushed forward, shoving the doctors out of the way, he dropped to his knees on the floor in front of Tianna, and took her into his arms. As she threw her own arms around his neck he showered her face with kisses and her ears with honey words. He kissed away each of her tears, ignoring his own as they now slipped free in joyful, glistening drops. She was alive! Thank god she was alive.  
  
Tianna's body was shaking. She woke up from a shock, and saw all those white coats and the white masks and thought she was back in Rostengburg. She had panicked, everything had been so light, and weightless, and then thrown back into that shocking feeling. It had hurt, but Dominic was there and Tianna knew everything was going to be okay, because he was there. "I want to go home Dominic, take me home, please," she cried as she curled up against him and wrapped her arms tight around him. She did not want to be away from him. "Please just take me home." 


	40. It's You

It's You  
  
Tianna was walking around Dominic's room, it was warm with the breeze blowing in through the open window. She looked at all of the pictures-- her pictures-- pinned to the wall she remembered being bare. Her finger tips brushed lightly over the glossy prints of her brother and the couple she had of her father. She ran her hand over the cover of her journal with a slight smile, then with a curious gaze she focused on the file resting upon Dominic's dresser. She flipped the pages open and her breath caught in her throat-- it was Gavin's file from Rostengburg. There were pictures of her old friend. Tianna almost cried, but she knew he hadn't wanted her to cry then, and he wouldn't want her to cry now. The best thing she could do for him was to remember him and their friendship. She took the pictures out and using a couple of the extra tacks, she pinned the pictures to the wall. She smiled warmly and wiggle her bare toes in the carpet.  
  
She opened each drawer in the two dressers in the room, her and Dominic's clothes were mixed in together. She smiled, and wrapped her fingers into the shirt she was wearing, it was an oversized T-shirt, and it hung down, almost past her knees. She chuckled a little remembering the night before when she'd stolen it right off Dom's body and slipped it down over her head. He had rescued her, protected her just like he'd promised. She was safe again, it was a beautiful feeling. Even more beautiful was the feeling of not having to be afraid any longer. She felt immortal, like nothing could touch her now, because she had Dominic.  
  
She pulled the closet door open, and breathed in the scent of him, and ran her fingers over the different textures of the fabrics. Something caught her eye though, in the back of the closet and she pushed the clothes out of the way. It was a black six string, acoustic guitar. It had an ornate design painted around the opening, but most of it had been worn way from years of playing. She smiled shyly as if afraid of treading into that memory and wrapped her fingers around the neck of the guitar and carried it back over to the bed. She climbed carefully on to the bed and settled comfortable against the edge of the open window. She plucked idle at the strings.  
  
A brow rose, it was in tune, but something was causing it too sound just the slightest bit off. She shook the guitar and her eye brow arched higher at the clatter made. The guitar was turned up side down, and shaken again until an onyx pendant fell out against the strings. Then fingers pulled the pendant out, the chain rubbing the strings into a quiet sound as it ran across them. She studied the pendant, it was a hawk with it's wings open and its head to the sky. It had been Gavin's. She smiled brightly, and unhooking the chain, she slid her father's ankh pendant down to join Gavin's, then she hooked it back around her neck.  
  
Dominic stood in the doorway, and watched Tianna through the small opening. He hadn't shut the door all of the way when he left the room that morning. She smiled as he watched her. She hadn't said a word as she wandered around the room, and discovered precious bits of her past. In truth she'd barely spoken since they left the hospital. He worried about her, he wanted everything to be okay with her. Wanted her to be the joyous, spirited woman he knew she was. He watched as she slipped the guitar strap around her shoulder and let her hand slid down the woven fabric of that strap, before pushing those long fingers through her own short cropped hair. He smiled, her hair had been growing out and was showing that natural ebony, but it still had pink tips.  
  
Tianna's fingers were stiff and it took her a while to get the tune to play correctly on the guitar. It was a light melody that she'd heard so many times before in her past, and once before in her dreams. Gavin used to sing it to her, and now, as she resolved to move past the lost love, and pay tribute to both him, and her new love, she played it. "If tomorrow never comes," Her voice was soft, airy as she sang quietly, "I would want just one wish." As she continued to sing, she didn't notice Dominic walk into the room, "To taste your quiet mouth," She smiled, when her fingers fumbled lightly over the strings. She shook her head with a slight laugh then continued on, "And trace it's steps with my finger tips."  
  
She looked up and smiled brightly at Dominic, her fingers didn't stop playing that sweet tune, and she didn't stop singing, "And it's you, the light changes when your in the room. It's you, oh it's you." The guitar sang a climatic verse, and then softened down, "And it's you, it's you, oh it's you, it's you... " She'd held out the end of each part, her mouth forming a pert little 'o' as it sang the vowel. Then the music stopped and she held the guitar in her hands for a silent moment, before standing and putting it back in the closet.  
  
"Come here, Princess." Dominic said taking Tianna's hands and pulling her into his arms. He held her for a long moment, just reveling in the feel of her head resting against his chest, and her arms wrapped loosely around his waist. He pulled back a bit and kissed the top of her head, then sat her down on the edge of the bed.  
  
Tia gave him a strange look and then spoke, "You have sit face."  
  
"What face?" Dominic chuckled quietly.  
  
"The 'I'm- about- to- tell- you- something- really- long- and- tedious- so- you- better- sit- down' face." Tianna smiled childishly and kicked her feet back and forth idly as she waited for Dominic to start telling her that long tedious something she was expecting.  
  
"Well, yeah, that's about right. It's not the bad sit face though, I think the long and tedious this time will be worth the wait. At least I hope it will be."  
  
"I'm sure it will. Now tell me, so we don't have to draw the long part on any more that we have to."  
  
Dominic laughed again then took a deep breath, "Tianna,"  
  
"Yes that is my name." Tia snickered, as she playfully interrupted.  
  
"Shh, I'm trying to tell you something tedious and worth knowing."  
  
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'll be a good girl now." Tianna traced a halo in the air above her head with her finger then folded her hands neatly in her lap.  
  
"Good, okay, anyway." Dominic took another breath and tried again, "Tianna," He paused to look and see if she was going to interrupt again, when she didn't he continued, "When I first met you, you were the spunky, little thing, with a tremendous about of strength and attitude. You had some hidden secret that intrigued me. They told me you were building a car and I told them I thought that was a man's job." He winced in mock fear when Tianna glared at him, and quickly attempted to recover, "But I quickly threw that idea out of the window of my car as you went speeding past in that race. I bow down to your superior skills, and apologize for the chauvinistic comment."  
  
Tianna giggled when he really did bow, and fell back against the bed grinning, "Silliness!" She composed her self-- mostly-- and took a deep breath and sat up. Even though she was still grinning, she wasn't giggling, "Apology accepted. Please continue on with this wonderful story about me."  
  
Dominic shook his head at her comment, but did continue on with his story, "Then we almost kissed, but the cops came and we were interrupted. I thought everything was cool, everyone got away all right, I didn't even realize they'd chased you down, until Romeo ran all spastic-like into my house. I told him not to worry about it though, and I headed out to find you. I don't even know how I did, but there you were, cornered in the alley. When you got shot my heart stopped. That was the first sign really, you were just another girl, right?"  
  
"I was not just another girl," Tianna huffed.  
  
"That wasn't a question to be answered... Anyway, I took you home and after you kicked Brian and Vince's asses-- by the way thank you for not kicking Jesse's you might have broken him,"  
  
"No problem. He wasn't the one trying to kill me, so there wasn't a need to kick his ass."  
  
Dominic grinned, "After you kicked Brian and Vince's asses It was my turn to try and fix you. I think I did okay, and I'm really sorry that it hurt so badly, but there was a bullet in your shoulder and you were pretty adamant about not going to the hospital."  
  
"Damn right I was."  
  
"But that was the second sign I think I acknowledged. When you said you didn't died that easily, it just eluded more to the secret I didn't think I would ever find out and it also tore away a little piece of me. For some reason the thought of you dying had hurt. At this point you know I still thought you were just another girl. I guess I had know you a couple days at that point."  
  
"Something like that..."  
  
"That next morning everything started rushing along. I didn't mean to make you cry but my own damned curiosity made me ask about your dad. You just spilled her whole life out to me. You told me the secret. Told me stuff that even Romeo didn't know. My heart just shattered when you cried yourself to sleep in my arms. When you broke down. But I think I got all your pieces back, didn't I?"  
  
"You did," Tianna said quietly, almost shyly, "you even added a couple to fill some of the empty spaces."  
  
"I'm glad... I hoped that would be what you said." Dominic ran a hand over his head, and just looked at Tia as if deciding exactly where he should pick up and continue his story. "When the car crashed, all I could think of was that they didn't mention you on the news when they covered the accident. Well it was murder too, but they called it an accident." When Tianna glared he added, "Don't worry Letty's dead, she got what was coming to her. Anyway, I didn't know where you were, I couldn't find out anything on where you might be. I'd forgotten things you told me that could've been useful. It was like my mind wasn't giving me any information except that I had promises to keep and I wasn't doing a good job.  
  
"It was actually Mystic who pointed out the obvious too me. She said check Rostengburg. So we broke in, we stole files... She came out with the guitar, she said you would want it. I heard you screaming... saw the lights pop with the power surge. I wanted to break you out then. Mystic stopped me though."  
  
"You wouldn't have been able to do it though. My guess is all the security and doctors, were in the little room where the perform the shock therapy. Bunch of sick fucks, the whole lot of them. They watch. I'm like a circus attraction there."  
  
"That doesn't make me feel better... I couldn't do anything, I had to wait. Had to let you suffer more until I could come to the rescue. I heard you scream for me one day, early in the evening. I knew he had you back, but I knew he'd be expecting someone to do something stupid like rushing right in, so I still had to wait. When I found you, you were strung up with barbed wire." Dominic fingers ran lightly of the scarred flesh of Tianna's wrists, "They'd cut so deep I couldn't even see the wire. We took you in the hospital. They stitched you up, and fixed you as best they could but it wasn't enough. You were in a coma for months, and you flat lined... I didn't even know what was going on around me. All I knew is I thought you were dead."  
  
"I told you I don't die as easy as all that."  
  
"I cried, I feel kind of silly saying that now, but I did. I cried because I thought you were dead, and I cried when you screamed and announced very loudly that you were alive, I cried more. I cried like a little girl, Tianna, and I am not ashamed to admit that." Tianna giggled, but didn't say anything so he continued, dropping down on one knee. Dominic took both Tia's hands and kissed the inside her wrists. Then he looked up at her, "I love you Tianna Isis Ammon, so much more than I ever thought possible." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring he'd found in her shoe box. It was a black, double star sapphire, flanked on either side with prefect white diamonds, and set in a simple band of white gold. "Tianna, would you do me the extreme honor, of being my Princess for the rest of my life? Will you marry me?"  
  
Tianna's jaw dropped just a little bit to make her look surprised and she looked at Dominic like he'd grown another head. then here gaze traveled down to the ring, "Mommy's ring..."  
  
"I got permission to use it, it's okay," Dominic didn't know how to react to her lack of an answer, but he was dealing with it.  
  
"Permission? From who?" The only two people she could think of that knew about that ring were dead. Both Romeo and her mom, were dead, so he couldn't have asked them.  
  
"The same person who gave me permission to ask for you hand in marriage." Dominic was grinning slightly, he was actually finding it slightly amusing by this point.  
  
"And who would that be?"  
  
"Your father. He's down stairs in the kitchen."  
  
Tianna blinked as she absorbed the information she'd just been given, then she jumped up from the bed and raced as fast as she could down the stairs and through the living room. She slid to a halt in the kitchen and stared at the man standing there. He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. "Daddy?"  
  
The man smiled warmly, and he's eyes brightened, "God it's been a long time since I've heard that."  
  
"Oh my god..." Tianna's hands flew over her mouth, she remembered his voice. She remembered the look of him though he looked much smaller than she remembered. Then again, though, she had been much shorter the last time she saw him. "Daddy!" She threw her arms around the man's neck and hugged him as if she would fall if she let go. She laughed when he whispered little comments about her height and hair color, and how he'd missed her. Everything just seemed to fall into place. "Did you really tell Dominic he could marry me?"  
  
"I did, I can tell he loves you. Did he use you mother's ring?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I don't see it on your finger, he did ask didn't he?"  
  
"Yes he did."  
  
"And what did you tell Dominic?"  
  
Very slowly, and very comically as the expression showed vividly on her face, Tianna realized she'd never given Dominic an answer. "Oh my god... I can't believe I didn't..." She didn't even finish the scolding comment she was giving herself, she just turned and ran out of the kitchen. Dominic wasn't in the living room so he hadn't followed her down. "Still upstairs then," She said climbing the stairs two at a time and running into the room.  
  
In the bed room Dominic was still kneeling on the floor, and awkwardly he turned to face Tianna as she reentered. He grinned boyishly, and held the ring out as an offering, "Will you marry me Tianna, or should I ask again?"  
  
Tianna threw herself against Dominic knocking him back against the carpet. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him thoroughly, before pulling back. "Absolutely yes. Yes. Yes. Yes." She kissed him after each spoken yes and giggled when he nuzzled her neck, and wrapped his arms tight around her.  
  
Dominic sat up and leaned Tia just far back enough to slid the ring onto her left ring finger. It fit perfectly. "Looks like you have your mother's hands." Dominic said leaning into Tia pressing his forehead to hers. The smile on Dominic's face was that of a giddy boy getting his first kiss.  
  
Tianna angled her head and kissed the man again, then in response she added, "Looks like I finally have my Prince Charming."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"It's you." 


End file.
